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ANNUAL FESTIVALS II 



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PIONEERS OF 'ROCHESTER 



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BLOSSf>M HALL. 



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\] SEPTEMBER 30, 1847, AND OCTOBER i2, 1848. ^^ 



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> '-^ KOCEIKSTEK, N. Y.: 

Ij STEAM PRESS OF BUTTS & MERRELL, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. Y"! 

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PROCEEDINGS 



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ANNUAL FESTIVALS 



OF THE 



P^'^nEEESOr EOCHESTEE, 

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BLOSSOM HALL,^ 



SEPTEMBER 30, 1847, AND OCTOBER 13, 1848. 



' ROCHESTER, N. Y.: 

STEAM PRESS OF BUTTS & MERRELL. BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 

1848. 



F"/2f 



FIRST ANNUAL PIONEER FESTIVAL. 



It having pleased a kind Providence to spare 
the lives of many of the first settlers, or Pioneers, 
of this our floarishing and beautiful city, it was 
suggested that the hardships and privations endur- 
ed by them, should be commemorated in an appro- 
priate manner by the survivors. 

In accordance with this suggestion, several pre- 
liminary meetings were held by them, which re- 
sulted in the adoption of a series of resolutions, 
designed to control their future proceedings. 

It was determined in the first place, to convene 
a Social Meeting, to be composed of Pioneers 
who had settled at, or who were born in Rochester, 
prior to the first of January, 1816, and who were 
then residents of the city or its vicinity. 

After the adoption of resolutions expressive of 
their gratitude to God, for having preserved the 
lives and the health of so many of them, and also 
of their determination to conduct the proposed cel- 
ebration on principles of Temperance, a Commit- 
tee of Arrangements, composed of the following 
gentlemen, was appointed, viz. : , 

Ends Stone, Aaron Newton, 

Harvey Montgomery, Moses Ghapin, 

Samurl G. Andrews, Jonathan 'Packard, 
Chari.es J. Hill. 

At a meeting of the Committee of Arrange- 
ments, held at the office of the Chairman, Sept. 
18, 1847, Col. A. Newton was chosen Secretary, 
and it was decided that the Pioneer Jubilee be held 
at the Blossom Hotel, on the 30th of that month. 

At a subsequent meeting of the Committee, 
Messrs. Silas O. Smith and Hervey Ely, were ad- 
ded thereto. It was also resolved, that in the event 
of the death of a Pioneer, whose name should be 
enrolled as a member thereof, it shall be the duty 
of tlie survivors to attend the funeral of the de- 
ceased, in a body. 

FIRST PIONEERS' FESTIVAL. 

The first meeting of the Pioneers, called for the 
purpose of commemorating the early settlement of 
Rochester, was held at Blossom Hotel, on Thurs- 
day, the 31st day of September, 1847. 

The following gentlemen were chosen ofiicers : 

President— ENOS STONE. 

Vice-Presidents— Hon. Ashley Sampson, Ralph 
Parker, and Oliver Citlver, Esqrs. 

Prayer, by R^v. A. G. Hall. 

A sumptuous dinner was prepared by the Messrs. 
Blossom — themselves Pioneers and proprietors of 



one of the oldest Hotels in the city — which was 
partaken of by the following gentleman : 



Name. Age. 

Enos Stone, 72 

Hamlet Scrantom,....75 

, Oliver Culver, 69 

Jehiel Barnard, 59 

Silas O. Smith, 63 

Jonah Brown, 58 

Hervey Ely, 56 

H. Montgomery, 58 

Ralph Parker, 75 

Levi Brown 62 

Gideon Cobb, 57 

Jonathan Packard,. ...54 

George C. Latta, 51 

Adonijah Green, 57 

Ashley Sampson 57 

Abner Wakelee, 57 

Ruluff D.Hannahs,... 63 

Nathaniel Draper, 57 

Anson House, 55 

Samuel G. Andre ws,.49 

Moses Chapin 56 

Everard Peck, 56 

William Buell, 56 

Aaron Newton, 55 

Jacob Graves, 60 

Dr. H. Carver, 55 

Wm. Brewster, 60 

Enos Pomeroy, 56 

Seth C. Jones, 47 

Ebenezer Watts, 65 

Wm. W. Mumford,*.51 

Joab Britton, 67 

John Veazie, 72 

ElishaB. Strong, 58 

Wm. B. Alexander,.. 59 

feliStillson, 74 

S. H. Packard, 51 

R. K. Lothridge, 38 

L. A. Ward, 46 

James H. Watts, 39 

Fisher Bullard, 53 

Daniel Graves, 50 

Ephraim Moore, 53 

ElishaD. Ely, 34 

Henry Barnard, 31 

Josiah W. Bi8sell,....29 



Where born. 

Lenox, Mass., 

Durham, Conn.,... 
Hartford, Conn...... 

9Partners, N.Y.,... 
New Marlbro', Ms., 
Green River, N.Y. . 
W. Springfield, Ms. 

Philadelphia, 

Salsbury, Conn...... 

Green River, N.Y.. 

Paulet, Vt., 

Massachusetts, 

Seneca, N. Y., 

Kiskitom,N.Y 

Cornwell, Vt., 

Greenville, N.Y 

Bethlehem, Ct...... 

Washington, N. H. 
Glastenbury.Conn., 

Derby, Conn., 

W.Springfield, Ms. 

Berlin, Conn.., 

Canada, 

Cheshire, Conn...... 

Westown, Mass.,... 
Providence, R. I.,... 

Priston, Conn., 

Buckland, Mass.,... 
Madison, N. Y...... 

Boston, Mass., 

Aurora, N. Y., 

W'8tmoreland,N.H. 

Boston, Mass. 

Windsor, Conn...... 

Galway. N.Y 

Newtown , . Conn. , . 
Charlemont, Mass.. 
Springfield, N. Y., 
Haddam, Conn...... 

Nantucket, Ms.,.. . 
Uxbridge, Mass.,. . 

Swansey, N. H 

Hollis, N.H., 

Hadley, Mass 

Rochester, 

Rochester, 



ArrivaL 
810 



* Died In Rochester, on the 9th of January, 1848, of an 
apoplectic tit. 



Name. Age. 

Tho. Kempshall, 52 

Horatio N.Fenn, 49 

Eraslus Cook, 53 

Enos Blossom, 35 

N.H. Blossom, 33 

Wm. Miller,... 56 

Alexander Ely,* 85 

Alexander Britton,.... 

Charles J. Hill, 50 

Mitchael Loder, 49 

Edward Barnard, 58 

Matthew Brown, 83 

Charles C. Lunt,t...79 

Preston Smith, 62 

Thomas Barnard 52 

Reuben Bardwell,.. ...83 



Where born. Arrival. 

England, 1813 

Pivmomh, Conn. ,..1817 

Clinton, N.Y, 1815 

Onondaga Co. NY. 1816 
Onondaga Co. N.Y. 1816 
Saratoga, N.Y. ,....1815 
W.Springfield,Ms.,1817 
1817 
Woodbury, Conn... 181 6 
Santhsalem.N. Y..1817 

Hartford, Conn 1814 

Brookfield, Mass.,.. 1818 
Newburyport, Mass.1819 
We.stSprinc;field,...18I3 

Pitt&town,N. Y 1819 

Deerlield, Mass.,... 1818 



* Died in Rochester, .lunc 15th, 1848, of apople.\y. 
t Died in Rocli ester, March 2d, 1648, of old age. 

On the return of the company from the dining- 
room to the spacious saloon, the Pr';sident deliver- 
ed the following address : 
Gentlemen and Brother Pioneers : 

Through a partiality, most grateful to me, and 
for which I beg to return to you my warmest ac- 
knowledgements, I have been honored with the 
highest seat at a festive board, prepared and fur- 
nished by those, yet remaining of the Pioneers of 
Rochester and its vicinity. But in assuming the 
post assigned me, 1 must be allowed to express a 
full consciousness of my inaptitude for the proper 
performance of its duties, as well as a regret that 
the duties of the chair had not been assigned to 
other and more competent hands. Regrets on 
this score are, however, now vain, and while I 
can promise my best exertions to meet your wishes 
on this truly interesting occasion, I am too deeply 
conscious of my deficiencies not to know that I. 
shall be under the necessityof making large drafts 
on your kind forbearance. 

On an occasion like this — one especially intend- 
ed to brighten the chain of friendship by calling 
up memories of the past — a past, much of which, 
was but a war with the inl'eli.iiies incidental to 
the settlement of a new country — it may be 
expected that something of personal experience 
and recollection will be furnished by each of the 
participators in this festival. This expectaticn, it 
is hoped, will be more than realized through the 
relations of many of whom I am thankful to have 
met on this occasion ; yet so far as it relates to 
myself, you will be compelled to take the will for 
the deed. A long acquaintance with you all, 
will supercede the neces^ity of staling my entire 
deficiency as a narrator, even of things personal 
to myself; hence, I am cheered by the reflection 
that Utile will be expected of me, beyond an hon- 
est endeavor to make this meeting conducive to 
the pltasure of the participants in its fe^tivities. 

The changes, gentlemen, which we have seen 
in the face of the Genesee country, and which 
we have aided to produce, since our fir.-t visits to 
it, have been mo~t striking and important — such 
as few could h<ive imagined po-sible within even 
the lapse of a century, much less in half of that 
period. Id illustration of this, you will have the 
goodness to excuse a little egotism. I came into 



this " breathing world" on the 13th of May, 1776, 
in the town of Lenox, Massachusetts, and in 1790, 
was sent by my father hitherward, to look after 
a land-purchase which he had made in township 
No. 13, called Brighton — including, then, a part 
of what is now Rochester, as is very well known. 
Charged with a supply of cattle and hogs, I, in 
company with others, started for the Genesee 
country, May 17th, 1790, and reached it m 27 
days — finding my brother Orange, who had previ- 
ously emigrated to this place. My father surveyed 
out what is now called Brighton and Port of 
Rochester, in 1809. After leav-ng Herkimer, 
there were but few traces of settlement westward 
— even Utiea being unable to boast of any regular- 
ly built dwelling. We, on this occasion, put up 
at a " Block House," more familiarly known as 
the " Post House," and far behind the one in 
which we are at present assembled in all that per- 
tained to creature comforts, as will readily be im- 
agined. From Utica, a family had preceded us 
west, whom we found at what is now called 
Wbitestown— White being the name of the Pio- 
neer family. No road thence onward to Oneida 
but an Indian trail, and from there to Cayuga 
Lake, there was not a house to be found. At the 
latter point, the hardest draft was made upon our 
patience and stomachs — especially the last, as we 
were there from Thursday morning until Sunday 
evening, without having had the pleasure of tasting 
food. On the night of the last day named, we 
got to Geneva, having lain upon the ground the 
preceding twelve nights. But to be brief, my 
presence here to day is pretty good evidence that 
my first wood.^ journey was safely performed, 
whatever may have been the privations and hard- 
ships attending it. At the time of which I speak, 
if my memory is not at fault, Ontario county ex- 
tended from Herkimer t'> the western boundary of 
the State— a tract of country now presenting 
nearly a million of people. At the first organiza- 
tion of the county, some of which are denomi- 
nated Town Officers, were residents at Utica, 
some at Canandaigua, particularly the " T<.>wn 

Clerk," a Mr. Bates and some at Bufl^alo ! 

Strange as it may appear to us now, then it was a 
fact that the British were joint occupants with us, 
holding the forts both at 0-wego and Young-town. 
Moved here in March, 1810. On May 4ih, Jas. 
S. Stone was born — the first child born in the now 
city of Rochester. 

Gre-at changes have been wrought since the 
day of the Pioneers — changt's not only as regards 
tht-m, but the country they were the first to at- 
tempt to reclaim from the sohtude of the wilderness. 

Gentlemen, we are permitted to assemble to- 
day in a splendid and tasteful mansion, situated 
in a city of 30,000 inhabitants ; yet 'it is within 
the personal knowledge of some of us when there 
was not a dwelling here — when the site of the 
city, or a large portion of it, was deemed an irre- 
claimable swamp, proper only as a resort for frogs 
and muskrats. No longer ago than 1789, the 
country known as the Genesee, belonged to Mont- 
gomery County, and it may well be doubted 
whethet, at that time, there were men enough 
west of Rome, to have made up a company as nu- 
merous as the present ! What do we see now— 



or, ra'her, what does the census of 1840 show us ? 
It shows Ontario County with, in round numbers, 
43,U0i} inhabitants ; Yates with 20,01)0 ; Steuben 
with 46,000; Wayne with 42,000 ; Livingston 
with 35,000 ; Alleghany with 41,000; Monroe 
with 63,000 ; Orleans wnh 25,000 ; Genesee with 
30,000 ; Wyoining with 30,01)0 ; Caitaniugus 
with 29,000 ; Chauiauque with 48,000 ; Erie with 
62,000, and Niagara wnh 32,000— in-iliing an ag- 
gregate of over 500,000 people ! This astonish- 
ing change has grown up under our ovn observa- 
tion, yet liow nard is it i'ully to realize its extent, 
or grasp its piobable consequences ! 

Yei the cliange is here — pal|)able and uni\iis- 
takable, in vi ibie nature, and if we consult no 
flattering minor, we shall be compelled, willingly 
or not, to own that we too are changing — have 
changed. It is bffiiting, then, bieihren of the 
" Pioneer Corps," that ere we cease to compose a 
portion of the half million of human beings now 
dwirlling iu Western New-Yoik, that we should 
prepare some memorial of nuiselves and times ior 
posterity — homtthiug which bhall not only pre- 
serve our names Irm oblivion, but shall presi nl 
them autographically to thost^ who may come af- 
ter us, while we call up such personal reminis- 
cences as shrill inteiest the present and the future. 
For the accomplishment of this purpose, a book 
has been procuVed, in which each Pioneer m id 
please write his name, birth, and birthplace ; be- 
sides, furnishing lor insertion in another portion of 
the lecord, .--uch ijer>onal nanaiives ot ihe eai'y 
settl mem of ihi country as his nieinoiy can it caf. 
By doing this, we shall center presen: pleasure, 
as well as a great favor on the reading future. 

Bieihren, my task is done — poorly, I am con- 
scious, but too sensibly so ; but my consolation is 
that, howHver insipid 1 may have been, there is 
plenty of txcelUnt wine — to tpeak figuratively - 
with which to earry on and close the feast. To 
the enjoymfpt "if ihis I invite yi-u, one and all, 
with my whole heait — the heart of an humble but 
tiue Piontrtr. 

Alter which, the following correspondence was 
read by Mr. Andrews: 
Col. A. Newton : 

D ar Sir— Y< ur note is rpceived. I am too ill 
to e.tpo-e myself to the public. I regret I cannot 
be wnh you ; I have little hope of ever going 
abroad again. May God bless eafh and pverv one 
of you. Mathew Brown. 

New-York, Sept. 27, 1847. 
To the Chairman presiding at the Pioneer Fes- 
tival : 

Dear Sir :-— Finding that I shall not reach 
home in time to attend ycur Festival on 'he 3Qth 
iiist., I desire to express to you, an^ through you 
to the Pioneers who may be assembled, my un- 
feigned regret that I cani.ot be present, as I had 
looked iorward to the occa^ion wi'h hitjh antici- 
pations of pleasure and pit fir. The feelings J 
entertain triwijvd- my early a'stciates in the vaned 
toils and exp'rience incid nt to seitling a new 
town in the desert — overc(!miiig such obstacles a- 
woods, swamps, fever and ague, bears, rattle, 
eaakee, mosquitoes, and most other of the win{,ed 



tribe, added to all the privations — I fay the feel» 
ingss [ entertain, are interesting and enduring. 

With the following sentiment or thought, I 
close, in haste. Moot respectfully yours, 

Chas. J. Hill. 

The latter Pioneers of Eoche.iter ~Tho?e en- 
terprising and worthy citizens " who came to the 
rescue" after 1818, and the sons of the Pioneers, 
men qualified ibr the ta,-k of rearing the Super- 
structure of our thriving city. 

Rochester, Sept. 20, 1847. 
To the President of the Pioneer Meeting : 

Dear ."'ir — Unforeseen circum-tances have pre- 
vented me from joining in the festivities of this 
first public dinner of the Pioneers of Rochester. 
[ well remember the 1st day of May, 1812, wh^n 
I arrived in this now eity of Rochester, and that it 
novved all day, ai.d that the city then looked 
dreary, having not a single house or family on the 
west ,-ide of the Genesee. 

I will now offer a sentiment, and am 

Yours, truly, Edwin Scrantom. 

Our old -vd absent friend, Preston Smith — 
The man who, in 1813, for want of a looking- 
glass, hung up his black coat on the oucside of the 
w'ind.iw, and went inside and looked into it, and 
shaved himself. 

3Ir. President : 

Sir— In ihe year 1806, I left the State of Con- 
necticut, wnh my father, and came to Canandui- 
gua, Omavio County. I returned to the same 
Sate in 1813. 1 came into this State, and on the 
26ih day of March, 1817, I removed my family to 
thi- place, whert- 1 have ever since resided. 

In May, 1817, on motion ol Sa U 1 G. An- 
drews, now present, I was appointed 4Ln Coiporal 
in an I.ifantry company, and subsequently to the 
command of the regiment. 

In the year 1818, I rented the then 'vooden 
huild lie, on the same ground wli.ch we now are, 
of Benjamin Blos-om, father of our now ho.-t, and 
kept an inn ; in 1819, was appointed Con table in 
the town of Brishion, whii h 1 held for seven years, 
arid two years D puty Sheriff, and for the last sev- 
enteen years have been Crier of the Monroe County 
Courts. ^ A. Newton. 

To the President of the Pioneer Society of 

Rnchesfer : 

Sir : — I have been much gratified at the propo- 
sal for a meetinii of the early Pioneers of Roch- 
ester, a'ld think that the occasion may be very 
profirable in gathering tog ther incidents connect- 
ed with the early history of your city. 

[ wish to submit Ibr your consideration, the pro- 
priety of formina an a-sociation ior the purpose of 
gathering imoimation, and publishing such facta 
as may he connected vviih the early history of the 
Genesee country. And, as one of tne "Id Pio- 
neers, I would reppectl'urily submit the following 
p an, for the pu'-pose of ensuring the accomplieh- 
ment of the^object of neh organization. 

A meeting of the early Pioneers of the Genesee 
District, (-ay west of Cayuga Lake,) for the piir- 
po;Le of Ibimitig a Pioneer Society lor Western 



New- York, and that a President be chosen at 
such meeting : also a Vice-President for each 
county included in said district ; and that such of- 
ficers be chosen annually ; and that no person be 
eligible who shall not have been, since the age of 
21 years, for 40 years a resident of this county. 
And that each Vice-President have power to form 
& county society, subject to such regulation as may 
be deemed expedient by the original society. 

And all papers containing the early reminis- 
ences of the early history of each county, and all 
the contributions, manuscripts, &c., &c., be the 
property of each county society. 

Various other plans might answer as well or 
better for such organization. 

The main object is to rescue from oblivion the 
memory of those who have done so much to con- 
vert the howling wilderness into a residence fit for 
the occupation of Man, and have by their toils and 
privations left to their descendants such a goodly 
heritage as they now enjoy. 

The above I submit for your consideration. 
With respect, I remain yours, 

D. McKenzie. 

Caledonia, Livingston Co., Sept. 29, 1847. 

0. Culver, Esq., said he first visited the spot 
where Rochester now stands in 1796. That year 
and the two following, he was in the employ of 
the new Connecticut Company, and assisted the 
survey of their land in Ohio. They left one fam- 
ily at Cleveland, and one at Coneaut Creek, 70 
miles apart. The company's boats were built at 
Schenectady, taken up the Mohawk to Oswego, 
up Lake Ontario, drawn round the Niagara Falls, 
thence to Cleveland ! In "97, made a small clear- 
ing of fi acres on the hill where Cleveland now 
stands, and built the second log house, which was 
the company's quarters. In the year '96, there 
were two log houses at Buffalo. In 1800, he left 
hia father's, at Mount Independence, Vermont, for 
the purpose of settling at Cleveland. On his 
way he bought the farm he now lives on. In 1801, 
'2 and '3, he was in the employ of Augustus 
Griswold, at Irondequoit Landing, then the city 
of the west. The Tryon farm, 3000 acres, was 
laid out in city lots, and an extensive ware-house, 
store, ashery and distillery, having been erected 
by Try«n, and a very extensive business being 
done there, no store nearer than Canandaigua. 
About this time, three persons established a store 
at Charleston, near Lima. In 1804, he went to 
Schenectady and Salt Point, for goods and salt, 
which ware taken to Oswego, thence to Lewis- 
ton, teamed to Schlosser, thence in boats to Black 
Ro«k, thence to the first vessel built on our side 
Lake Erie, the Good Intent, to Cleveland ; paid 
$3 per barrel for salt from Black Rock to Cleve- 
land. Most of it was conveyed on pack-horses, 
and exchanged at Cleveland, Maumee, Huron and 
Detroit, with the French and Indians for furs. In 
1805, he cstabhshed the first express in the west- 
cm country. He earned the mail on skates from 
Cleveland to Huron, 40 miles in 4 hours, which 
can hardly be beaten now, except by telegraph. — 
He bought 15 yoke of oxen, for which he paid 4i 
barrels of salt a yoke. They were driven to Iron- 
dequoit. He returned by way of the Lakes in 



1795, in a bark canoe, with 4500 pounds of furs. 
It was the sixth time he had traversed the lake in 
an open boat, and once by land in '98, when there 
was no house between Buffalo and Ganson's at Le 
Roy. In 1800, he put in 7 acres of wheat on his 
farm. In the fall of 1805, he assisted in cutting 
out the road where Main street now is, from the 
Genesee river, to intersect the old landing road 
two miles, and was paid by the town of North- 
field, 50 dollars. There was no dwelling here ex- 
cept a small log house, built by Col. Fisk, -in con- 
nection with the " Indian Allen Mill," which stood 
where the City Mills now stand. The first bridge 
was bmlt over the Genesee M-here Main street 
bridge now stands in 1811-12; before that time we 
forded the river above the rapids, in low water ; 
and he has had hairbreadth escapes there in being 
washed over the fails with a load of grqjn which 
he had been to Braddock's Bay to procure with a 
sled and two yokes of oxen. 

Mr. Culver related an incident of his narrow 
I escape at this ford on a tempestuous night, when 
I he had volunteered to carry medicine which was 
procured from Dr. Ray, of Pitlsford, the then only 
Doctor nearer than Palmyra — to William Hinchu 
the first settler at the mouth of the Genesee, who 
had been bitten by a rattlesnake. He was carried 
down the river from this ford in the darkness, and 
saved himself by clasping the alder branches on 
the bank. 

You, Mr. President, said Mr. C, built the first 
house on the east side of the river, and in 1813, 
we had not given up the belief that the Ironde- 
quoit Landing would be the port of Entry ; every 
thing here was so forbidding and inaccessible. It 
was in that year ihat I built a vessel of 47 tons, 
on the farm owned by Roswell Hart, Esq., in 
Brighton, and drew it with 26 oxen to the Land- 
ing. It was a fine little craft — and I at the helm 
made the port of Oswego with her, where two 
heavy vessels manned by 24 men were both lost, 
and all on board found a watery grave. 

You and I, continued Mr. C, did not expect to 
have seen a city of 30,000 inhabitants where we 
had so recently hunted bears successfully. 

[The above is an imperfect sketch of Mr. Cul- 
vei-'s very Interesting details.] 

Hamlet Scrantom, senior, one of the oldest 
Pioneers present, being called upon, mentioned a 
few incidents of the early settlement of Roches- 
ter. He came here in 1813, built a house where 
the Eagle Hot.el now stands, and helped clear a 
road for some di.stance up BulTalo street. He had 
some encounters with snakes, and on one occasion 
decapitated a number that intruded into his new 
house 

Mr. Hannahs followed with another snake sto- 
ry, and gave an amusing account of the slaughter 
of 20 of the '• varmints," belonging to a den dis- 
covered by himself in 1816. They did not " hiss." 

Mr. Barnard came here in 1812, put up a build- 
ing 18 by 26 feet, which subsequently became the 
first tailor shop, the first shoemaker shop, and 
the first school and meeting-house. The first 
meetings were well attended. The Pioneers were 



all good singers, and they did their singing after 
the old congregational fashion, as it should be 
now. The whole country round was a wilderness, 
and he often felt when wandering about on the 
Sabbath, like Alexander Selkirk, in his solitude.— 
Mr. B. related a snake story in which six " rat- 
tiers" suffered death under the Falls one Sunday, ; 
for which exploit he received six shillings bounty \ 
money from Squire House. He also related an j 
adventure with a deer, in which the animal came i 
off best, and suffered a captivity of three days. \ 

Dr. Jonah Brown came here and commenced j 
the practice of medicine in 1813. He located his | 
office where the Bank of Rochester now stands, i 
While visiting a patient near the Rapids, he barely j 
escaped falhng into the claws of a panther, which 
paid his respects to him as he was riding in the I 
woods a couple of miles south of the city. Hav- ] 
ing heard that vocal music would keep the " crit- 
ters" at a distance, he tuned up his pipes, but he 
would not vouch for the character of the music 
made on that occasion. He gave a vivid sketch 
of the sufferings of the sick, and stated that he 
has frequently been called upon to act as nurse, 
cook and doctor — whole families being down at 
I he same time. 

Mr. Culver, at the requeet of Mr. Ely, related 
his adventure with the Indians at Twelve Mile 
Creek, in which he received a blow with a toma- 
hawk on the head, the scar of which, can still be 
seen ; and also the particulars of the bonfire, he 
and Mr. Ely made of six thousand votes sent from 
Canandaigua during the struggle for the division 
oi the county. 

Mr. Hfrvey Ely, who came here in 1813, gave 
a full account of the attack of the British upon I 
the American works at the mouth of the river. — | 
He was one of the party who marched to the de- \ 
fence of the place. As our readers are famihar 
with this action, we must for want of space omit ■ 
the particulars. Judpe Sampson called upon all I 
who wi:yp present at that engagement to rise. — 
Messrs. Ely, Kempshall,Scrantom, Smith, Graves ' 
and Green, arose. j 

Mr. S. 0. Smith came here in ISOi), forded the 
Genesee by Major Stone's directions at the place 
where the new aqueduct now stands, got safely 
over, but fell into Indian Allen's mill race, and got 
out with difficulty. Mr. S. described the appear- 
ance of the " irreclaimable swamp" on the west 
side of the river, and spoke of the difficulty of 
improving the land and making it habitable. The 
mud was so deep in front of the Mansion House, 
that years after, when the stage from Canandaigua 
did not appear at the regular hour, the citizens 
used to inquire if it had sunk in the slough in front 
of the hotel. 

Mr. Anson House, kept the audience iu a roar 
by an amusing account of his early adventures. — ■' 
He commenced digging and has been digging ever 
since, the street where his property (the Minerva 
building) is located, having been dug down the 
depth of one story in front and almost as much 



in rear- His first pettifogging excursion was mad* 
on fool to Phelpstowii. When appointed Justict 
of the Peace he had no coat, and was obliged to 
be " quahfied" in Canandaigua in his shirt sleeves. 
He walked to that place and took the oath early 
in the morning before the people were stirring. 

Mr. Pomeroy spoke briefly and earnestly in favor 
of a Pioneer Association which should collect the 
materials of the early history of W^estem New York. 

Mr. Donald McKenzie, of Caledonia, an invi* 
ted guest, followed in a few pertinent remarks on 
the same subject. 

Mr. S. G. Andrews, said this occasion brought to 
his mind as a present reality, the incidents and act- 
ors in the stirring events which had been crowded 
into the brief period since he first saw Rochester, 
which was in the winter of 1815. He found 
here then about 25 houses, stores and shops ; Ely's 
old red grist-mill ; three saw-mills and a tannery : 
all the rest of Rochester was a native forest. — 
The Genesee was not then diverted to feed Erie 
Canals, or to turn mill-wheels ; but a broad, deep 
river rolled its unbroken volume down the falls, 
sounding its solemn bass through the woods for 
miles — sending up clouds of spray through a well 
defined bow of promise to Rochester ; and lodg- 
ing its congealed particles upon the shrubs and 
trees, and hanging boughs on its bank, forming in 
frost work domes, grottoes, and grained arches, 
decorated with pendant lustres, and crusted all 
over with diamonds, which reflected the sun rays 
and sent them off in lines of hght into the deep, 
dark wilderness. It was a scene magnificent be- 
yond description — such as no modern eye can be- 
hold ; for the Genesee river is devoted to other 
purposes. — Such was Rochester in 1815, with ita 
300 inhabitants. Now a beautiful city of over 
30,000 population ; over 30 churches and edifices 
for religious worship ; as many public schools and 
institutions of education ; over 4,000 houses ; 100 
mills and manufactories ; and not only " the larg- 
est but the best manufactory of flour in the world." 

Mr. A. related several incidents illustrative of 
the generous sympathy which prompted the ready 
helping hand among early settlers ; and spoke of 
the influence and example of the original settlers 
of the Genesee country and this city. They were 
plain men ; plain and unafTected in their inter- 
course, style of living, and manners, and that in- 
fluence is acknowledged iu the common and juet 
saying, that •' no species of dandyism can exist in 
Rochester." They were men regardful of reU- 
gion and its institutions ; their first work was to 
set up an altar in the wilderness, and to provide a. 
j)!ace of religious worship, and their controlling in- 
fluence is strikingly visible upon Rochester at this 
day. 

Those jnen, said Mr. A., inscribed their own 
epitaph more durably than upon crumbling marble ; 
for they impressed it upon the institutions, and in- 
terwove it with the manners, customs and fashions 
of a great community to be " seen and read of all 
men" — and if it might be deemed proper to name 
individuals among those, all so worthy of remem- 
brance, with respect and gratitude, he would men- 



8 



t'on those of Oliver Gibbs, Elisha Ely, Fr-'derick 
Clark, and Nath. Rochester, whose labors and ex- 
. ample, nn lew than the others, contributed to the 
moral prosperity of Rochestm 

Mr. Pcc'i grave a very lauehable account of onf 
of the eariy militia training--, in which there werf 
about thirty men and two muskets. Mr. Barnard, 
tie commindins: offijer, carri d a ramro i for a 
svord. The music consisted of a r^al fife anri 
half of a tobacco barrel for a drum. The sppaker 
half insinuated that Mr. Erastus Cook, one ot the 
Pioneers present, was the fifer on that occasion. 
but the gentleman, though he could not put in a 
positive denial, did not recollect the occasion dis- 
tinctly. 

Mr. P. went on to say : Although Rochester 
was at the tim; he had. spoken of, uninviting in 
its appearance, presenting more ih*^ aspect of a 
village of stumps and trees than of houses and 
people, yet the inhabitants were kind and cour- 
• teous to each other, and hopitable to strangers. 
They seemed bound together by ties of friend- 
ship and of common interest, and were united in 
all their efforts to give character and respecta- 
bility to the infant village. The foundation of 
its future prosperity had bf^en well laid — the in- 
stitutions of religion and morality had been firmly 
established, and the whole community, eonsi.^ting 
of members of different sects and denominations, 
met and worshipped harmoniously in one 'ongre- 
gation, while all contiibuted cheerfully to the sup- 
port of the minister, a most worthy and excellent 
man who harl been sett'ed a few months previous. 

The moral and leligious influence thus early put 
forth, doubtless contributed much to the rapid 
growth and enduring prosperity of our new flour- 
ishing city, and it is not too much to hope that the 
same influence may continue to be felt in the rich 
blessings it has secured, when those who were en- 
gaged in these efforts shall be forgotten. 

Mr. Gideon Cobb gave a very interesting ac- 
count of the early settlement of the country. He 
passed here in 1812, and took up his abode in 
what is now Aurora, Erie county, where he was 
appointed an officer and < rected defences to pro- 
tect the settlement from an anticipated attack of 
the Indians. He returned to Rochester in 1813, 
and establi'-hed the first public conveyance, a four 
ox team, which he ran to the mouth of river for 
two years. Used to get his provisions cooked 
once a week at VTrs. Culver's, except in warm 
weather when his beans and pork would become 
Bour. Then he was obliged to supply himself 
twice a week. He finally got board with Willis 
Kempshall, at $3 per week, and slept under the 
work bench. He cleared up North and Monroe I 
otreets. Once fell into the river where the market : 
now stands, and struggled an hour before he re- | 
eeived assistance, the inhabitants were so few. 

Mr. Graves had but little to ofT-r. He had 64 
«gae fits the first season of his residence here, and 
when he began to recover he conld not procure a 
pound of pork in the whole country. Had never 
been confined but one day by sickness since. 



Mr. J. Packard described the appcnncR ct 
various portions of tie city when he fi.8tdet;ied 
lere. 

Judge Chapin regretted his inability to con^ 
lense facts and incidents within his reco lection .<o 
13 to present them in an interesting manner. Wi. 
lad brought before our memo'ies the name of 
Mrly settlers, since deceased. He thou^htil high- 
y proper, also, on this occa-<!on to advert to ofh- 
•rs ti.en resident here, and acting an importai'^ 
jirt i n our then liitle community, but who h«d 
ince removed. Among them w^-re Capt. E E'j', 
H. K. BenJ-r, J. A. G .anger, .1. G. Bon-I, Dauby 
i, Sh Idon, G. G. & H. L. Sill, A. Hamlin, f. 
O.iell, W. W. .Tobson, E. Beach, D. D. Barnaid 
0. S.bley, M P. Belknap, S. Close, A. P,ui h 
Bates & TeSb, B Tinker, and many others who=e 
names we have not written. 

He proceed'-d to describe Rochester a<s it was in 
I8l6. 'i'he principal settlement on BufTalo stref. 
was between the Eagle tavern and the bridge over 
Genesee river. The bu Idings were rows of small 
-hops on each side of the street, mostly one st 'V 
and a half high. Here and there wai a build ig 
farther west on that s:reet, and in that year liie 
brush was burned to clear the street along in front 
of where the Court Hnu«e and -the Methoi.!:s; 
Chapel nf)W stand. A frog pond occupied a p 'rt 
of the Court House yard at the base of a hith 
stone ledge. From the bathing house on we^t 
was a log causeway over a d^ep swamp, in whjoh 
the forest trees were then standing ; and on wesi. 
of Washington street, there was an unbroken for- 
est. State street had been cleared of trees, iut 
the stumps were remaining. The forest came al- 
most to the west line of the street, between Arm 
and Brown streets. 

On the west side of Exchange street, a small 
framed building stood perched on a high ledge n'. 
stone about where Ailing & Seymour's book-store 
now is ; farther west was a dwelling-house on the 
site of the Bank of Rochester ; then farther south, 
occasionally a sTiall building. On the west side 
of this street were no buildings. A yard for saw 
logs occupied the ground of Child's basin. 

On North Fitzhugh street, there was no settle- 
ment north of the site of the Baptist meeting- 
house. A cart track then led north to adjacer* 
woods. From North Sophia street, on west be 
yond Washington street was an ash swamp filled 
with water the most of the year. The long pend- 
ent moss from the boughs of the trees in this 
swamp presented a picturesque appearance. The 
land south of Trnnp street was a forest. 

On the west side of the river was a small clfts 
ter of hou-es on Main and South St. Paul streets. 
From Mortimer street north, and from Clinton 
street east, and from .Tackson street was mostly * 
forest. A black walnut tree, magnificent for il9 
size, stood on the north part of Dublin, not ^ar 
northeast from the Falls, and attracted many vi?i-^ 
tors. 

In 1817, he purchased and soon cleared I'le 
land of his present homestead. After he com- 
menced living on this lot, bi« house was aeees?!- 
ble only by a cross path leading through the woods 
from the present pump on Spring street. He h;. 



9 



aeen wild deer come on to his premises, after he 
commenced residing there. In 1818, he cut and 
cleared a path from his house down Troup street 
to Sophia street. 

lie proceeded at some length to speak of the 
accommodations tlien furnished, and to contrast 
tiiem witii the present improved state of things. 
He alluded to the good fortune of those who were 
eavly enough' on the Sabbath to get a seat in the 
small school-hou>3e iii which the whole village met 
for public worship — called to mind the two tavei ns 
with their floors covered with beds to accommo- 
«date travelers, and the slab aide walks occasion- 
ally laid by contribution, when the mud rendered 
the streets impassable. He referred to a mem.ora- 
ble volunteer night watch, so noisy and riotous 
as to annoy more than they protected the village. 
He told anecdotes to illustrate the mode of living 
and the privation of the comforts of life. He spoke 
of the state of the arts and manufactures, and amus- 
ed the company by producing a pair of dividers 
made from a beach chip with a penknife, by a set- 
tler in 1816, when a pair of brass dividers could 
not be found nor purchaseit nearer than at Canan- 
daigua. 

Mr. Seth C. .Tones sketched his early adventures 
as follows : . 

Mr. President, those who have preceded me, 
have related so many hardships and privations, 
far exceeding any that I can relate, that I do not 
know that what I can say will be very interesting: 
however, I will venture to trespass a few moments 
on your patience, while I compare the past with 
the present. In the spring of 1816, I started 
from Madison to seek my fortune in the far West. 
I was 15 years old, a foot and alone, with my 
sack on my back. I wandered through woods 
and mud to Pittsford, where I arrived the 20th 
day of May, with a capital of two dollars, which, 
with two suits of clothes, composed all my stock 
in trade. At this time the only currency was 
shin plasters, which 'a man could travel out of 
credit in half a day. There I stopped and work- 
ed about two years. It was very hard work to 
get any money for labor a' this time. In the fall 
of 1818, I came to Rochester to see what I could 
get to do. At last I made an agreement with 
Roswell Hart to cut a quantity of steamboat 
wood. I went into the hemlock woods about 2J 
miles this side of the mouth of the river, built a 
shanty, pulled off my coat and went to work. — 
Pork being two shiUings per pound, I thought I 
would coinmence by catching some fish, so I 
bought me a hook and line and. set it. At night 
there was a large white looking "fish, fast to the 
hook. I pullfed him in and thou'^ht I had a fine 
prize. I dressed him and put him'on the fire and 
cooked it until I thought it was donl|, but it v/as so 
tough I could not eat it. I put it & again, and 
the more I cooked it the tougher it wdfe. I thought 
this was a poor speculation. 

The next day there happened to b$ one of the 
Pioneers passing through the wood^, and I told 
my fish story to him. Why, says he, it is a 
sheep's head ! We never think of more than half 
cooking them, they are much better only part 
boiled. I thought I had better buy pork at 2s. 
2 



per lb. At this time there was no clearing be- 
tween Carthage and the mouth of the river on 
the east side. After I got through with the job, I 
came up to the village, and went to cutting and 
selhng cord wood, and getting building timber. — 
The best price I could get, was from five to six 
shillings per cord, handsomely piled up in the 
yards of the wealthiest citizens. The best price 
that I could obtain for the timber of the Court 
House, was 2} cents per foot. So you see I had 
to do a good deal ot hard work for little money. 
A kind Providence has changed the condition of 
many of us, as well as the country in which we 
live, and this change can only be realized by 
comparing the past with the present, and it may 
not be amiss in us to recount the trials and hard- 
ships we have endured, and the humble part we 
have borne in producing this from a howling 
wilderness to a flourishing city of about 30,000 
inhabitants. May it be our part to help on this 
good work so well begun, and if we improve the 
advantages we possess, Rochester has but just 
began to be what she wiO be in thirty years 
more if she maintains her integrity. With her 
churches and public schools, mills and machinery, 
and vast water power, all properly brought to bear, 
her coursfe must be onward. I might relate many 
other incidents, but I will not trespass further at 
this time. 

IVIr. Alexander spoke of the character of the 
early settlers in the following style : 

A stranger sitting here and hearing the history 
of the first settlers o^ this place, as related by 
yourself, Mr. Culver, Esq. House and others, 
who told some of the privations of this settlement, 
would immediately imagine to himself what was 
the appearance of this people ; he would say that 
in the countenance of each would be depicted a 
tale of woe — sorrowful, haggard and abstracted 
people, all lamenting thair unhappy fate, and beg- 
ging that some kind providence would take them 
away. 

But, sir, how different was the picture. I never 
met with so pleasant, cheerful, agreeable and ap- 
parently happy people, always ready to do each 
other a good turn, give and receive a good joke, 
no matter how tight the fit. A stranger would 
suppose thaV- they fared sumptuously every day, 
and lay on beds of down. No murmuring in 
those days. As there was no place of amusement 
here, the lively and active dispositions of the peo- 
ple could always invent some way to pass off a 
dull hour agreeably — such as hopping, jumping, 
pulling at the sticks, running foot-races, &c. His 
Honor the Mayor, Dr. .John, was famous for a foot- 
race. The only place for a race course that could 
be obtained without running over logs or around 
stumps, was the old bridge ; several heats were 
taken by His honor the Mayor, on that course. 
Esq. House did not look as doleful as one would 
suppo.se from the situation he was in when I saw 
him on a wintry evening in 1817, in company with 
others, pulling at the sticks in the bar-room near 
where tjie present bar-room of this house now is. 
It commenced by the boasting of a man named 
Freeman, who had a roll of butter in liis hat on his 
head ; it was discovered by some of the company. 



10 



Immediately a match was made ; two sat down, 
one with his back before a large bar-room fire, 
the pulling commenced, the one near the fire was 
pulled up, he brought in his man, he choose Free- 
man, the butter man; he was carefully placed be- 
fore the fire ; he pulled up his first man, another 
sat down — up he came after some struggle ; the 
next came up, and the next, till each had had his 
turn ; Freeman was always the conqueror. In 
the mean time, our much esteemed friend, now 
present, Col. A. Newton, who understood the joke, 
paid good attention to the fire. Freemen then got 
up, took the fore finger of the one hand and the 
thumb of the other, and wiping the butter off from 
his forehead, exclaimed, " how I sweat I" 

In those days, there were no assaults and batter- 
ries ; nor wrangling or fighting here, nor had we 
any till they began to work on the canal. 

Mr. J. H. Watts, said, a migration from the 
Eastern States 30 years ago, was more of an event 
with our American people than at present. 

Now families leave and traverse thousands of 
miles, and it is an every day occurrence. Of the 
times from 1800 to the period 1818, friends fre- 
quently took a farewell never expecting to meet, 
as it was thought a new country, wild beasts and 
natives were sure to embargo a return to the left 
homes of the east. The difficulties of travel were 
not easily overcome, and when my father wished 
to meet his family as he did at Cayuga Bridge, 
there was ro stage or Railroad to convey him 
there. He wanted to see us and he came on fool. 
It was an adventure to come west more perilous 
than a voyage around the world is considered at 
the present day. No one thing conduced more to 
make the people one in feeling than the fact that 
here sociability was necessary, and the Pioneers 
all knew each other, worshiped God under one 
roof, schooled their children at the same school- 
house, and took an interest in each other's welfare. 
Mr. President and gentlemen present, let me 
mention one circumstance to the lasting credit 
of one I wish was here present, who I will al- 
ways honor. When my father reached Rochester, 
there were not as many stores or places of business 
as at present and there was but one place he could 
find to cover his head. You may all remember 
the Leavitt or stone building which has been torn 
down to make place for the Munger Block.* 

There m.y father found a convenient room to 
commence his business and live as best he could 
without his family for some time. In those days 
it was thought quite a place ; there he continued 
until he found better quarters. What rent, think 
you, he was charged a week when he left it, af- 
ter occupying it some time ? Why, says John G. 
Bond, its owner, a good mechanic is of much use 
to our village. I shall make no charge for it, 
and neither would he take it. There were many 
such good hearted men. Who forgets Ira West, 
always respected in his day ; and will not Dr. 
Mathew Brown be remembered here, who could 
not come from ill health, who would no doubt be 



•Mr. E. Watts Is believed to have lieen the first 
worker of tin this side of Cayuga Lake, say in 1817, the 
firat located at Rochester at any rate 



glad to join you and very many more who can- 
not be here ? I tell you gentlemen, (and I may 
be said to be speaking praises to your faces,) I look 
upon the early Fathers of this city as Benefactors. 
You have given a character to it for morals and 
good order and laid out a city, and paid the taxes 
to improve it, and carved a foundation upon 
which succeeding generations may build and profit 
thereby. 

My parents brought me here, and here would I 
always live with my family and be satisfied with 
its progress. , 

Like many of the older portions of the com- 
munity, its younger branches have gone from us, 
and death has taken his share. When my mother 
with two children came here, we had no small 
difficulties in reaching our dwelling on South Fitz- 
hugh street. Huge stumps of newly leveled trees 
stood in the wdy, and it was a long time before 
they disappeared in and about the corner of Fitz- 
hugh and Spring streets. All the way up above 
the now Ladies' Academy, on Fitzhugh 'street, I, 
with many of the early boys of Rochester, went 
for chestnuts, and we had to go through the woods 
to get up to Cornhill, that now densely settled 
part of the town. I was amongst those who went 
to school in the " old school-house" that stood on 
the same site of the' present No. 1 School-house. 
I remember it was said in those days that we had 
good teachers, who were more strict than are al- 
lowed at the present time, and furthermore that 
good scholars, proficient in the first rudiments, 
(the useful ones I mean,) were always reported 
by all visitors and examiners at our school. 

I am pleasedto join on this festive occasion with 
so many of the old men Pioneers — they who have 
given it a character for enterprise, good morals and 
order ; and who have done as much in reclaim- 
ing Rochester from a forest and a solitude as all 
after generations shall be able to do. In follow- 
ing out the schemes to extend i*s limits and im- 
prove its many superior advantages of an inland 
town,inay it never be known to retrogade, but 
let centuries to come but add memorials to its 
greatness, in all that ennobles man. 

Allow me to touch a topic in which I have ta- 
ken an interest. In the many improvements, 
none stand more prominent than our culture of 
fruits. Many will hardly credit the fact that an 
apple was much desijced by one sick in our family in 
those early times, and not one was to be found in 
the spring ol the year — now I need not tell you 
that our city furnishes (by the great attention 
paid to its culture) all fruits in abundance in their 
season. I undertake to say that in no clime can 
you find better and more of them, and the fame 
of Rochester is coupled with her fruits and flowers. 

In conclusion, allow me to offer a sentiment. 
May the sons both absent and present, those who 
were born here and came here anterior to and 
within the year 1818, children of the early Fath- 
ers of this city, to so regulate their lives, that after 
generations may say, how near akin were Fath- 
ers and Sons of the early settlers of Rochester. 

Before the separation of the Pioneers, on mo- 
tion of Mr. Andrews, the following resolutions 
v/ere unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are 



11 



dae to our Pioneei bietlueii.tlie Messrs. Blossom, 
lor the sumptuous entertainmeiU they have pro- 
vided on this occasion. 

Resolved, That this meeting is greatly indebted 



to Cot. A. Newton, for his activity and perseve- 
rance, and for the deep interest he has talien in all 
matters pertaining to the festival. 
The meeting then adjourned. 



SECOND ANNUAL FESTIVAL 



Pnreaant to publisfied notice, tha Pioneers of 
Rochester and its vicinity assembled at the Bloa' 
som House, on Thursday, the 12th Oct, 1848. 

The meeting was called to order by the Hon. 
Enos Stone, President. 

On motion of Judge Sampson, a committee, 
(consisting of the mover, Judge Brown, ofOg- 
den, and [), McKknzik, of Caledonia,) was ap- 
pointed to report officifs for the organization of 
the mijclin^.' Mr. Sampson reported, viz: 

Llish.^ Ely, rresiceni, 

i-""«J^«^'^' J Vice Presidents. 
Ralph Parker, ) 

Chas. J. Hill, } a . ■ 
a /> A ? Secrefanog. 

b. <j. Andrews, ) 

Prayer was offered by Rev. FJr. Hotchkin. 

The minutes of the provious /neetiagwere read 
by Mr. Hill. 

The following commanication from the Hon. 
Ends Stonb was heard, and on motion of Mr. 
Andrews, ordered printed with the proceedings; 

Brother Pioneers — In leaving the chair 
as presiding officer of this meeting, an honor yoa 
had conferred upon me, probably bccacss I am 
one of the oldest of the Pioneers of Rochester and 
Western New York, now living, permit me to 
expresa ;n a plain manner my high sense of the 
compliment, and most sincerely to thank yoa for 
this manifestation of kindness. We havo met on 
this occasion to speak of things that are past , and 
call to mind for each other the scenes and men 
of other diys, that, to as who survive, are hal- 
lowed, and vvi'! becomamore interesting as the 
years and inontr.s number upon us. 

I need not speak of the trials and privations ex- 
perienced by many of ns in the settlement of this 
western coanlry, and this city in particular, nor 
pi»int oat til you the benefits that may have result- 
e 1 from the humble means used by us in bring- 
ing about the great changes that are manifest in 
this neighborhood. A few years since, this was 
a howling wilderness, and woe and sorrow were 
the lot of many who pitched their tenis hoie- 
abouts. Nov/, far and wide, tha elements of so 
cial comfort abound. Where the scream of the 
wild beast, and the wTioop of the savage were 
the terror of early .settler-?, the voipe of peace and 
content is heard, and every y -ir adds to the stock 
of permanent good to be derived from steady per- 
severance in improvement.. The country has be- 
come populous, healthy, and to a great extent 
bappy : and God forbid, that our coarse of pros- 



perity and social enjoyment may ever be long or 
seriously interrupted. 

On a similar occasion above alluded to, I dwelt 
nnoro minutely upon statistical and other facts to 
contrast our present with our former condition, 
and shall be glad to communicate to this meeting 
any information that may be desired of moon the 
subject of the present gathering. 

In conclusion allow me to say, — lot us who 
claim to be Pioneers, live in the bonds of good 
will and friendship towards one another, while 
for me there can be no greater source of happi- 
ness than to see yoa all prosper. 

The following additional names were recorded: 
Name. Age. Where born. Arrival. 

Russell Green, 71 Norwich. Conn . . 1817 

Benj. B Blossom,. . 58 Lenox, Ma?s,. ... 1818 
Jas. R. Hotchkin, .. 67 Cornwall, Conn... 1801 

R. A. Wilsoi, 36 Cooperstown.N.Y 

Lyman Granger,... 55 Suffield, Conn,.. . 1797 

Wm. B. Brown,... 64 Connecticut, 1804 

Harvey Prindle,... 63 New Fairfield, Ct. 1799 

Moses Kirg, 53 Suffield, Conn... . 1815 

Bradford King, 55 Suffield, Conn.,.. 1802 

Geo. W, Willey... 81 East Haddam,... . 1804 
Horace Scudder, ... 52 Biighton, N. Y.. . 1797 

.facob Sea, 68 Greenwich, Conn.. 1813 

P. B. Wilder, 47 Rushford, Vt 1807 

Justin Gates, 51 Springfield, N. Y. 1805 

Albert G. Way, 47Spriigfield, N. Y. 1801 

Donald McKenzie,. 64 Inverness, Scotla'd 1806 

Powell Carpenter,. . 78 New York, 1794 

Zachariah Lewis,.. 57 Connecticut, 1812 

Elisha Moses, 86 Connecticut, 1810 

Schuyler Moses, 49 Connecticut, 1817 

William Wood, 72 Banker Hil!, Mass 1809 

Micah Brooks, 72 Cheshire, Conn. . . 1797 

Francis Brown, 28 Rochester, N. Y.. 1819 

Henry F. Smith,.... 28 Rochester, N. Y.. 1819 

Mr. Peck presented the following communica- 
tion: 

Esteemed sir: I shall be proud to bo enrolled 
in the list of pioneers. I came from Bunker's 
Hill to Canandaigua in 1809, My grandfather 
and f-Uher owned about one-third of that cele- 
brated soil. I was cradled there in 1777. 

God preserve us in union and good-fellowship 
3men. William Wood 

To Mr, Peck, &c. 

And Mr. Wood was invited to participate and 
lecord his nsmo among the Pioneers. 



12 



Mr. Harvey Ely said: Some incidents con- 
nected with the first eatablishment of the public 
worship of God on the Sabbath day by the first 
settlers of this city, illustrate important princi- 
ples and render their review of interest to this 
and other coramnnities. 

The public worship of God on the Sabbath 
day, was first cominsnced in this place in the 
spring or summer of 1813, at the instance of two 
married ladies, women of faith and prayer. — 
Mrs. Scrantom and Mrs. Whelock, w:hen there 
were but eight or ten families in a district now 
containing more than thirty ihousand persors, ap- 
plied to Mr. Jehiel Barnard and Mr. Warren 
Brown to conduct the meetings; these were 
first, and for some monlbs after, held in 
an upper room of a one and a half story build- 
ing on Buffalo st., about 22 feet long and 14 feet 
wide, owned by Mr. Barnard, the lower part be 
ing occupied by him as a tailor shop. The ex- 
ercises of the meeting were extempore prisyer, 
singing and reading a sermon. 

After some months, the Rev. Daniel Brov^n, 
Baptist Minister at Pittsford, and Rev. Mr Par- 
raelee, a Congregational or Presbyterian minister 
of Victor, came occasionally and preached to the 
people. 

It was in the autumn of this year that the last 
acts of Heathen worship in this place by the 
Indians were celebrated. 

When my brother and myself came here to re- 
side in the autumn of 1813, we found fifteen or 
twenty families. They were then worshiping in 
the lower room of Mr. Barnard's building VVe 
continued there tiil the next summer, when a 
school house was erected and mr meetings held 
in it. Soon our numbers incroas* d so as to fill it 
to overiowing, when a temporary linter was ad- 
ded to the South aide. 

The summer or antumnof 1814, Rev, C. Wil- 
liams was employed to preach for us a few 
months. This was followed by the formation of 
tha First Presbyterian church in the autumn of 
1815 and the settlement of Mr. Williams as its 
Pastor. From this dale the records of the differ- 
ent churches contain their history, I need not de- 
tail it nor give thoir numbers. 

It is perhaps well to observe that till sufficient 
strength was gathered to successfully accomplish 
new organizations, christians of ail denonainalions 
regularly met together for the worship of God, 
and all contributed from their Rcanty means (for 
we were all poor,) to I's support, and mntaally 
aided each othei in the erection of (he first houses 
of worship and the support of a preached gospel. 
A consequent spirii of harmony, peace and char- 
ity has ever been a distinguishing characteristic 
of the churches and congregatiorig organized in 
this city. 

Important principles are employed in this ex- 
hibition worthy of consideration and example. 

The great encouragement it offers to ail who 
commence, or go to dwell in new settlements, to 
begin with cstiiblishing the public worship of 
God on the Sabbath — it was done hero and it was 
well done — trn'.y of them it can be said in the 
words of our Savior " she did what she could," 
and He has most wonderfully blessed those early 



efforts. They did not po abroad to ask for help 
to build ,1 place to worship God, or to defray the 
expenses of snpporiing Ministers. They were 
content to assoiTible ii such places as their scan- 
ty means would enable ihem to provide, and 
from their poverty they contributed to support 
their ministry. 

I have no kr.',ow!edge of any religi>:n8 society 
in this pli:ce over having received ono dollar 
from abroad towards o'efrayicg the expenses of 
buil'ling churches or supporting Ministers. 

Mr. Brown, of Ogden, was happy in the order 
of Divine Providence, to meet so many Pioneer 
frienda on this occasion. Ho congratulated the 
meeting, on the continued growth and prosperity 
of the coaatry, and related incidents of former 
days of interest He said in attempting to ford 
tha Genesee above the Rapids when he first came 
to the country, he was carried down the stream 
and miraculously preserved within a short dis- 
tance of the groat falls. He was one of the first 
si^ttlers of O^dcn, and his father preached the 
first sermon ever delivered at Rochester. He 
cut a road through the v/oodsfroin his settlement 
to Braddock's Bay and gave descriptions of the 
greiit difficnliii-s of that day. 

We have found, said Mr. Brown, a pleasant 
land. Comforts and blessings are pnlfuscly scat- 
tered on every hand — the country has not chang- 
ed — the obstacles to its enjoyments only are re- 
moved by entnrprisiDg hands. His neighbor, Mr. 
Wiiley, now present, and 82 years gf age, cut 
the first tree as a settler in Ogden, and indited the 
first p ^etry. It is dosci iptive of the country then 
and now; and seems to have been add/sssed to 
the inhabitants of the town of East Haddam, 
Conn., whence P/Ir. Wiiley emigrated. It went 

to the 

TUNE OF DELIGHT. 
Oome and ao along with me, 

And 1 will show you land, 
That lies in Genesee. 

Tnai aint all rocks and sand 
Th.it plsRsant soil, 

Of flTtile ground, 
Lies all around. 

Thaiisworlh awhile. 

Mr. Andrews, said the following statistical facts 
of the olden days of Rochester, compared with 
its present condition, would, he believed, present 
a case of the growth and improvement of a city, 
unparalleled sioco those days when the wealth 
aiid labor of a kingdom were brought into requi- 
sition to enact them. 

In 1814, Elisha Ely, Hervey Ely, and Josiah 
Bissell erected a merchant's mil! at Rochester 
with 4 run of stones— the first mill erected ex- 
clusively for that business. These gentlemen 
also built a small I story building for a store, on 
the corner of Buffalo and State streets. Mr. H. 
Ely came on to Rochester with his goods, and 
finding the building unghzed. he proceeded to 
Canand.iigni 30 milRS tn procure a box of 50 feet 
of glass; being unable to find the article nearer. 

In 1815, Samuel Hildre'th, of Pittstoi-d, com- 
menced running a twohorse stage between Roch- 
ester and Cinaodaigna twico a week, and private 
enterprise coutinned it once a week on the Ridgo 
Road to Lewisfon. The first "religious society 
(Presbyterian) was organized this year under 
the charge of the Rev. Coajfort Williams. Tha 



13 



mention of the name of onr first Pastor— said 
!VTr. A , will briug np to yoar memories that man 
(if nifeknesa and hamility, as ho went about doing 
it;ood in ihe new settlement ; one can almost see 
his quick step aad active manner, on his walk to 
h:8 clearing, at what is now the junction of the 
feeder and canal. The ioflaence of his iadu3- 
trious f-simple was every where felt. He was a 
Pastor upon the Apostolic plan, scarcely charge- 
able to any, for his own hands ministered mainly 
to his necessities In his day no religions dis- 
sentiona marred the harmony of religion. Hie 
works remain and follov/ him. Honored be the 
memory of the Rev. Comfort Williams. 

In 1816, a post route was established " by 
authority" between Canandaigua and Lewiston, 
•'by way of Rochester." A tavern was opened 
where the Arcade buildings now stands, by A. 
Reynolds, Esq. The first newspaper was pub- 
lished by Danbey & Sheldon, the " Rochester 
Gazette" The basiness of purchasing produce 
from the country was commenced, and about 
7000 barrels of Flour were exported. The pop- 
ulation of the villasje was 331. The quarterly 
receipts of the post office were about fifteen dollars. 

l!i 1817, the laniia on the east side of the 
River were laid out in bnilding lots. The vil- 
lage of Rochesterville was incorporated, and the 
first officers under its charter, were Francis 
Brown, William Cobb, Everard Peck,, Danie! 
JVlack, aud Johiel Barnard. Hastings R. Ben- 
den, Clerk, F. F. Bachns, Treasurer. 

There are now at Rochester txventy Flouring 
Mills, with over one hundred runs of Stones. 
Forty daily, weekly, and semi-weekly mails ar- 
rive and depart. Forty churches and religious ss- 
cieties. The quarterly receipts of the P. O., are 
$5000 ; the third largest in the State. Four daily 
and eight weekly newspapers. There were man- 
ufactured here in 1847, over 700,000 barrels of 
Flour. And the present population is believed 
to be between 35 and 40,000. * 

R. A. Wilson would speak as a representative of 
pioneers. His grandfather on his mother's side 
was a member of the Legislature of New York 
durinj! the. revolution — ^for the County of Mont- 
gomery, which then comprised all of the State of 
New York north and west of the County of Sche- 
nectady. Mr. William Clark an uncle of his mo- 
ther, visited us at Rochester in 1825, and talked 
familiarly of events he had witnessed in the old 
French war, was a soldier under Gen. Braddock 
aitd shared in his defeat. In 1809 his fa- 
ther, who bad buen employed by Brandt to erect 
a Council House, crossed the Niagara River, 
forded the Genesee River at the Rapids, and after 
wandering throngh the western and northern 
States setiledat Rochester, invested his property 
in village lots, and carried on the business of 
house building to the close of hi3 life. The only 
• hing ho recoll-inted of the olden tipie, v»as the 
system of revolving batween the two sides of the 
River bo! ween Brighton and Rochester, and the 
races ihU almost daily occnrred between unfortn- 
!iata delators and constables ; tho Genesee River 
being the boundary of two Counties, Batavia 
being his destiny on one side, and Canandaigua 
the other. 



Mr. Jacob Graves related hig early expe- 
rience, in coming to Rochester in 1816, when he 
purchased the sue of his present extensive tan- 
nery with $1000 in silver, which he brought all 
the v/ay from tho Soaihern State line, across the 
mountains, to Schunectady, Canandaigua, aid 
this city, in his saddle-bags. 

Mr. Raphael Beach spoko in his turn. — 
Considering himself one of the youngest Pioneers 
in tho Company, he had no experience to tell that 
would compare with what others had to say. 

Capt. Miner told of bringing to Rochester 
from Albany, in 1812, the first Mill Ifttns that 
were ever put up here, for Francis Brown. The 
mud was so deep at the present site of the Eagle 
Tavern, that the iroDs in the bottoni of his wagon 
got wet and rusted. He also told of the practice 
in that day of sending convicts to the Salt Works 
to work out their time, instead of to the County 
Jail, the prisoners having the choice of punish- 
ment. 

Messrs. H. Prindle, Francis Brown, 
Simeon Lewis, S. C. Jones, and Natha- 
niel Draper, also spoke as called upon. 

Mr. Levi A. Ward, after a very complimen- 
tary notice of John Maude, Esq., an intelligent 
English traveler, who visited what is now Roch- 
ester, in 1800, related at some length incidents 
of his early life, when living with his father, 
(from 1807, when became from Connecticut,) 
in the present town of Bergen, then called 
Northampton. Wo would be glad (o give a full 
report of the interesting remarks of Mr. W. but 
find ourselves overrun with the groat amount of 
matter upon our hands. All listened to what he 
said with great interest. 

Gen. MicAH Brooks also occupied. the fall 
time allowed to each speaki r, in recounting the 
legislative history of the settlement in the Gene- 
see Country. Gen. B. carne to this Country as 
early as 1796, and in '99 became a freeholder. — 
la ISOSi after the division of Genesee County, he 
was elected a representative in the Legislature. 
Ho related the actioa taken in laying out roads at 
that period, and the incipient steps taken in bnild- 
ing the Erie Canal. Gen. B.'a remarks were 
highly interesting, and duly appreciated by his 
brother Pioneers. 

[Letter from John G. Bond, Esq.] 
NiLEs, Berrien Co., Mich., Oct. 7, 1848. 
Dear Sir : I have just received your kind note 
of Sept. 26th, communicating to rne the special 
invitation of .the Committee of Arrangements of 
the Rochester " Pioneers," to attend their annu- 
al meeting at the Blossom Hotel, on the 12th of 
October next. I feel extremely grateful for this 
polite and kind remembrance. I have ever felt 
proud of having been one, — although a humble 
pne indeed, ot the early pioneers of the now beau- 
tiful city of Rochester. My affections even early 
enlisted in her growth and interests — there has 
not been a place since my removal from the Gran- 
ite State, New Hampshire ; I'in 1815) which I 
have more loved, and whose people I have held 
in greater esteem, than the good people of Roch- 
ester. The beauty of its locality — the pretty riv- 
er—river of cascades, — good soil, and climate, — 



14 



general fine scenery, and every thing connected 
with its site, — afforded me pleasure and happi- 
ness — and my heart is ever filled with sorrow, 
when I reflect that circumstances or fate rendered 
it necessary for me to remove away farther west 

but it was so decreed by Heaven, and Him 

who never errs, that I might exert my humble ef- 
forts to assist in founding and building up other 
villages — Lockport, and Niles, in the Peninsular 
State — the latter place will, I predict, be my last 
pioneering, and my tenement of clay will rest 
shortly on the romantic and beautiful bank of 
the St. .Joseph. I am claimed, I believe, as one 
of the early pioneers of these very important and 
beautiful settlements—one fine city and two pret- 
ty villages. — Rochester city, Lockport and Niles. 

I sometimes smile when reflecting of past 
scenes, and what has happened in olden times 
About the commencement of your place, and 
when I was a citizen — I occasionally heard re- 
marks which had been made about me, and my 
character — this was as early as 1815,'16,'1'7, and 
1818 — they would remark, as I was afterwards 
informed, that on most matters Mr. Bond was 
reasonable and sane, — but when the subject of 
the future growth and improvement of Rochester 
were introduced, he was prone to predict that in a 
quarter of a century, or less, — the City of Roch- 
ester would contain a population of some 20,000 
inhabitants — that in fact I was a monomaniac 
and insane on that particular subject — now you 
have some 30,000, perhaps more. Alas ! how 
blind we often are, as to the future, whether for 
good or evil. I have often reflected how fortu- 
nate and blessed you were in the first settlement 
of your place by having some dozen or more of 
religious, moral, highly civilized, and enterprising 
famihes — the descendants of the Pilgrims of 
New England — mixed vnth some equally excel- 
lent families from the middle and southern 
States of our happy Union. The seed then sown, 
God has greatly blessed — and you are now be- 
come great in population and wealth — liighly re- 
spectable for learning, also in the arts and enter- 
prising — and will still go on, in progressing, per- 
haps in a compound ratio. That this may be, 
you have my best wishes. Rochester is now one 
of the best built cities in the West, and perhaps, 
in America. 

I extremely regret that circumstances will not 
permit me to join you in your celebration, of 
Rochester Pioneers, this year, but if God should 
spare my life for a few more years, and I have 
health and strength — I shall hope, and may be 'so 
fortunate as to be with you in some future celebra- 
tion of the Pioneers. 

You will please present my affectionate regards, 
and high respects to those citizens — " Pioneers," 
who may be present at the festive board, and all 
others, who may not be able to do so — who are 
stili residing in your midst and neighborhood.—^ 
They are all well remembered by me with great 
esteem and affection. Also present my best re- 
gard to y our family ; and to yourself, believe me 
when I say, that I still remain, as ever, 

Your sincere friend, and humble servant, 

JOHN G. BOND. 

Enos Sxoni, Esq., Chairmau of Comnjjtee. 



[Hemurks Jrom James H. IVatts.] 

Mr. President : The happy effects of the first 
meeting of the " Early Pioneers of Rochester" 
have exhibited themselves frequently since that 
time. Many have been the pleasant greetings 
and cojiimunications with those I have met who 
were amongst the early settlers. 

Letters and papers have been sent me from old 
friends in which they have alluded to our meet- 
ing and organization, and you may depend that 
the proceedings of this day will be sought for by 
thousands of the American people, and others, 
who have lived in our goodly city and known the 
body of men so truly termed Pioneers. 

I venture to assert that a stronger attachment 
for any one place does not exist than is had by 
ahnost' all persons who have lived in Rochester 
and I pride myself in the thought that we have, 
a good name in the land. 

Progress is so engrafted upon every thing that 
has existence here that we cannot fail to be known 
in our enterprizes, and many have been the won- 
ders experienced that so many circumstances of 
an interesting character could have been con- 
nected with the early settlement of a new coun- 
try. I need not say that the " Pioneers" immor- 
talized themselvies in their first meeting — congrat- 
ulations that so many are spared to " meet again" 
certainly will prevail — no doubt my seniors will al- 
lude to those who have gone from us the past year 
— " Pioneers" to a land to whicli we are fast 
hastening. 

The younger portions of the association will 
undoubtedly feel the lesson that the elder branches 
are dropping off, and with them ere long our old 
men will be dead, and their places can never be 
filled. May we, the young men, ever keep up 
this yearly gathering so long as we shall last, and 
be the last to forsake the way of our Fathers. 

I for one shall be a listener at this celebration 
— preferring reminiscences from others, especially 
Elders in the cj^se. 

Mr. Watts was necessarily absent from the 
meeting— but he says his heart and best wishes 
were for the welfare of the Pioneers. 

[Letter from Augustus Forter, Esq.] 

Niagara Falls, Sep. 28th, 1848. 
En0S Stone, Esq. — 

Bear Sir : Your letter of the 26th instant, as 
Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements of 
the Pioneers of Rochester, is received, in whieh 
you invite me to attend your Annual Celebration 
at the Blossom Hotel, on the 12th of October 
next. 

For this mark of kindness and respect I tender 
them my sincere thanks. Nothing -would afford 
me more pleasure than to attend this celebration, 
as it would give me an opportunity of seeing the 
early settlers in and about Rochester, among 
whom I might see many of my old acquaintan- 
ces — but the state of my health and the infirma- 
ti^s of age forbid it. My hge, should I live until 
the 18th of January next, will be eighty years. — 
You say at the close of your letter, that should I 
be unable to attend, some incidents of early set- 
tlements to be read on that occasion, are requested. 



15 



In conformity with this request, I will, so far as 
my memory serves me, give you some account of 
the first personal knowledge I had of the country 
in and about Rochester, and of the lirst settlers. 

I first came into the Genesee country in the 
year 1789, from Salisbury, Connecticut, in the 
capacity of a surveyor, at twenty-one years of 
age. I came from Schenectady on a batteaux up 
the Mohawk river to Fort Stanwix, from thence 
by Wood Creek, the Oneida Lake and Seneca 
River, to Geneva ; from thence to Canandaigua 
on foot by an Indian trail, and thence by an Indi- 
an path to East Bloomfield (Township No. 10 — 
4th range). Here I found Mr. Jonathan Adams, 
from Massachusetts, with a large family of sons 
and daughters who had just arrived and were en- 
gaged in erecting log houses. I then commen- 
ced my labors as surveyor, and lotted this town, 
and spent the whole of the season in lotting three 
other towns, and running the outlines of a num- 
ber of other townships in what is now Steuben 
County, and returned to Connecticut in the Fall. 
The next Spring I again came to Bloomfield, 
where I buUt a Saw Mill on Mud Creek. The 
latter part of the season I was employed by Jon- 
athan Fasset to survey Township No. 13 : 4th 
Range (now the Town of Penfjeld). This I ran 
into large farm lots, except some 20 or 30 acres 
lying on Irondequoit Creek, which was run into 
about twelve hundred lots, called City lots. 

At this time there were living Simon Stone 
and Israel Stone, at the place where the Village of 
Pittsford now stands. They were the original 
proprietors of the Township, having purchased it 
of Messrs. Phelps & Gorham, and selected this 
spot to commence their settlement from its being 
directly on the Indian path leading both from the 
Irondequoit Landing and Falls to Canawagus, 
(now Avon,) and from there being at the place a 
very fine spring. There were, also, several other 
persons living in the town — among them I recol- 
lect a Mr. Nie and Paul Richardson, who a few 
years after became the husband of Mrs. Israel 
Stone, whose husband had died. 

In No. 13: 4th Range, (Pcnfield) there was a 
Mr. Lusk, from Richmond, Massachusetts, living 
near the Irondequoit Landing, and a Mr. Alien 
living on the north side of the West branch of the 
Creek where the road leading from Rochester to 
Pittsford, crosses. Mr. Orange Stone lived in 
Township No. 13 : 7th Range, (now Brighton,) 
at the same place where he died a few years ago, 
by the handsome Elm Tree and Big Rock. Mr. 
Chauncey Hyde lived a short distance west of 
him. 

This town was purchased by a company from 
Lenox, Massachusetts, in the year 1789 — '90. — 
Among the names of the first purchasers I recol- 
lect Capt. John Gilbert, William Walker, Caleb 
Wallcer, old Mr. Stone, Father of Orange and 
Enos Stone, Mr. Northrop, Col. Chauncey Hyde, 
Prosper Polley, A. Egleston, and perhaps some 
others. Old Capt. Gilbert was the surveyor who 
lotted the town in 1789, with whom I became 
acquainted that year (an excellent, worthy man). 
He told me at that time that those of the proprie- 
tors who had seen the town, were disappointed 
and dissatisfied with ihe quality of the land gen- 



erally, and with the great Marsh of the Ironde- 
quoit, and a large Swamp at the south-west cor- 
ner, and that they intended to sell out as soon, 
and in the best way they could — and most of them 
a few years after, did sell to Mr. Phelps. 

This year, l(789,)Capt. Caleb Wallier surveyed 
Township No. 12 : 4th Range, (now Perrinton,) 
into lots. He and his brother. Col. Wm. Walker, 
purchased this town, and Glover Perrin with his 
family settled there, where they lived for several 
years before any other settler came in, and until 
Mrs. Perrin became partially deranged, when they 
removed to Pittsford, where he resided until his 
death. Caleb Walker died at Canandaigua in 
1790. This Township Colonel Walker sold to 
Daniel Penfield, and in 1797 Mr. Penfield sold to 
Doctor Duncan, a Scotch gentleman, who left it to 
his son, who lately lived at Canandaigua. 

In 1789, Ebenezer Allen, (then kn6wn as Indi- 
an Allen, from his having two squaw wives,) had 
agreed to purchase a Mill site at the Genesee 
Falls, and that year erected a small Grist Mill on 
or near the place now known as Child's Basin — 
the site was to contain one hundred acres. In 
the year 1790, Ebenezer Hunt and others purchas- 
ed of Phelps & Gorham 20,060 acres of land in 
Township number one, short Range west of Gen- 
esee River, which was bounded west and north 
by the north and west lines of the township, east 
by Genesee River, and south by a line parallel 
vrith said north line, and so far distant therefrom 
as to contain said quantity, excepting, however, 
and reserving one hundred acres which had been 
previously sold to Ebenezer Allen. The recogni- 
tion of this sale to Allen, in the deed by Phelps 
& Gorham to Ebenezer Hunt and others, is, as 
far as I know, the only evidence of title that Allen 
ever had to that 100 acres. In 1791 I was at Al- 
len's Mill, and the only person that I found living 
at or near that place, was a Mr. Dugan, a brother- 
in-law to Allen, who was attending the Mill. 

At this time there was living at the mouth of 
Allen's Creek, old Mr. ShefTer, who had purchased 
the farm on which he lived of Ebenezer Allen in 
1789 — and came there the next year. This was a 
farm which Ohver Phelps gave to Allen for his 
services while Mr. Phelps was negotiating with 
the Indians for the purchase he made of them in 
1788. Allen then lived on the farm, and from 
him the Creek took its name. 

The first settler between Sheffer's and the Falls 
as far as I recollect, was Col. Josiah Fish, who set- 
tled at the mouth of Black Creek, and for several 
years was the Supervisor of the town of North 
Hampton, which embraced the whole of that part 
of the State of New York, which lies west of 
Genesee River. 

In 1789, Hugh Maxwell, while employed by 
Phelps & Gorham, surveyed the tract known 
as the Mill site Tract, into townships, and in do- 
ing so, he committed an error by running the west 
line due ncrth and sOuth, and the outlines of the 
townships within the tract, in conformity with 
that. It was afterwards corrected by running the 
west line on a course corresponding with the gen- 
eral course of Genesee River. This I j-an in 1792. 
This corrected line, which is N. 22 E., accounts 
for the obliquity of some of the township lines. 



16 



In 1797 1 sun-eyed the 20,000 acre tract above 
referred to, into lots, and laid out the village lots at 
Hanlord's Landing. At this time a settlement 
commenced at that place by Gideon Pung, Zadock 
Granger and others. At the same time I laid 
out the Allen hundred acres, conformable to the 
description given in Phelps & Gorham's deed to 
E. Hurt and others. This directed that the cen- 
tre of the tract, up and down stream, should be 
the centre of Allen's Mill, and laid out in as near 
a square form as the windings of the river would 
permit. Old Mr. Hinshor at this time lived at the 
mouth of the river, on the west side, andCol. J. Fish 
lived at and attended the old Allen Mill. In 1798 
Eh Granger built a small schooner, at Hanford's 
Landing. I was at that time one of the propri- 
etors of the 20,000 acres, and E. Granger came 
to me and told me of the ridge of land now known 
as the Ridge Road, and proposed to go and explore 
it through to the Niagara River, provided I would 
employ a man to go with him and furnish them 
with provisions — which I did, and on his return he 
gave what has since proved a correct account of 
this remarkable road. 

Yours respec'y, AUG'S PORTER. 

[EemfirJ;s of Mosts King, Esq.] 
Mr. President : My Father came here in 1796, 
and I think manifested more energy than' his sons 
— for he sent his goods by water, down the Con- 
necticut River, up the Hudson and Mohawk into 
Oneida Lake, then Lake Ontario and up the Gen- 
esee to the Landing — now called Hanford's, then 
King's — and by their arrival had constructed the 
dug way, so that his goods were delivered at his 
residence. He made the road down the deep 
Hollow — opened the road to the Lewiston Ridge, 
and hved but 10 months in 1815. George Hill 
and I spent evenings pihng and burning brush in 
front of the Court House, and during the summer 
the brush and stumps got on tire on the north of 
Buffalo Street and corner of Fitzhugh, and raged 
with such fury that it called out all the inhabitants 
to preserve the few dwellings then erected and 
erecting along State Street. 

[Ee7narks of C. J. Hill, Esq.] 
Mr. Hill said : He came to this place quite 
young in 1816 — came alone, having then no rel- 
atives in this part of the country — he came sole- 
ly as an adventurer. He would detain the meet- 
ing but a very short time, especially as he saw be- 
fore him so many Fathers — more remarkable Pi- 
oneers, who had experienced so much more of in- 
terest to the meeting — he would say, however, as 
the privations of a new settlement were very fre- 
quently and justly alluded to, that there were lux- 
uries, also, incident to that state of society, at 
any rate, it was so in the early days of Rochester. 
He would speak of the fact, that the early Pio- 
neers came here with very httle property, having 
in that respect, httle or "nothing to lose, but every 
thing to gain," hence the scope for hope and san- 
guine expectations in an eminent degree — that was 
a luxury. 

Again, who that was here does not remember 
the kindly sympathy, the feeling of mutual accom- 
modation which was a leading characteristic of 



our early settlers — was not that a luxury ? and 
one which has sadly decreased with our growth — 
as is found to be the fact in every place, as it pass- 
es from infancy to manhood. 

He would also allude to the luxury which was 
enjoyed ihirty-tvv'o years since in this City, now 
containing between thirty and forty thousand in- 
habitants, of the entire populatioA then worship- 
ing God, from Sabbath to Sabbath, in a one-story 
building, about 15 feet by 24 — there being but one 
congregation and place of worship, and that ihe 
only school house. 

For New-Englandtrs, there was another luxury 
— I allude to the fact that the "heat and burden of 
the day," in subduing the forest and rearing up 
this new city, was, to a great extent, borne by ad- 
venturers from their F<ither Land, and not only 
^Q, but happily for the future moral character of 
the place, these sons of New England very gene- 
rally brought with them the principles and habits 
which have always so favorably distinguished the 
land of the Puritans. 

Finally he would mention but one other among 
the luxuries peculiar tn our infantile state, viz : — 
that notv/ithstanding the large participation of New 
Englanders in the enterprizes and vicissitudes of 
our early forming State, other^States, and even 
Foreign lands were well represented — and. what 
he had here to note as of peculiar interest, was 
the fact that, notwithstanding this seemingly hete- 
rogeneous collection, they were in a remarkable 
degree of one heart and mind regarding the essen- 
Itial elements of society. They readily united in a 
practicable demonstration of the importance of 
morahty and intelhgence, as well as enterprize 
and untiring industry, in laying the foundation 
for after generations to build upon. 

Mr. R. D. Hannahs, said he built and run the 
first Boat on the Genesee River in 1818 — and 
gave interesting details of early settlements. 

Mr. JoAB Britton, gave an interesting ac- 
count of his Hfe and adventures in the Genesee 
country, a hfe full of vicissitudes by land and 
water. 

Mr. J. Packard, stated the fact that Rochester 
in its early day whatever else it might have of 
troubles — never had musquetoes — gave interesting 
details of early times. He made the first stove 
pipe manufactured in Rochester, and assisted in 
making the first Iron Castings. 

Mr, Andrews, Mr. Sampson, Mr. Ward, and 
Mr. McKenzie, were appointed a Committee to 
prepare and revise the proceedings for publication. 

On motion of Col. Newton, the Executive 
Committee of the former year were re-appointed. 

After eloquent remarks by Judge Sampson in 
regard to the importance of giving a substantial 
and useful form to the acts and doings of the so- 
ciety, Mr. Ward moved that the Executive Com- 
mittee report a plan at the next meeting of the Pi- 
oneers, for the permanent organization of a His- 
torical Society of Western New York, which was 
adopted, and Messrs. Sampson and Ward were 
•added to the Committee — the Committee consist- 
ing of Enos Stone, Harvey Montgomery, Sam'l 
G. Andrews, Moses Chapin, Aaron Newton, Jno, 



IV 



Packard, Cha's J. Hill, Ashley Sampson, L. A. 
Ward, Silas 0. Smith and Hervey Ely. 

Donald McKexzie, Esq., of Caledonia, Liv- 
ingston county, (who will excuse us for giving 
him the cognomen of the "Laurie Todd," of Wes- 
tern New York,) presented a number of very val- 
uable documents. 

First— Mr. McK. says : 
I submit ibr your consideration some extracts 
from my Daily Memorandum Book in 1841, which 
may not be uninteresting to you. ' 

The little, hard, stony, swampy Town of Cal- 
edonia is now reduced from its empire magnitude in 
the year 1791, when the first town meeting was 
held at Canawaugus, where the heroic revolution- 
ary Capt. John Ganson was supervisor of all the 
best part of our Empire State, I say the old town 
of Caledonia is now reduced to an extent of a lit- 
tie over 4 by 8 miles. Seeing that we homely 
Caledonians, never get any of the great or hon- 
orable premiums from the Agricultural or Horti- 
cultural Societies, for the reason that we have got 
work enough at home, I have concluded to lay 
before you the fallowing table of produce, com- 
pared witli the number of consumers, which I had 
long ago prepared for our scholars to work out as 
a sum in arithmetic, and to exhibit to our rising 
generation the comparison between the value of 
the actual producers, and the actual consumers in 
our town of Caledonia, as compared with any oth- 
er tovyn in any country in the world, and 1 hereby 
submit it to the minds, heads and hands of young 
and old, to draw useful comparisons therefrom. 

If we look at the census and statistics of Liv- 
ingston County for 1840, as also a statement of 
the votes given in the town of Caledonia, at the 
Fall election in the same year, we will find thai the 
total population in Caledonia was 1983, of which 
number 33.3 were voters, and that the amount of 
produce raised in our town for thai year was a.s 
follows : 

Bushels of Wheat, 118,610 

or GO bush, to each inhabitant, 
and 3,'J6 bush, for every voter re- 
siding in the town. 
Whole No. Horses in town in 1»40, y04 

" Sheep •' •' 9334 

" Swine ■ •• 3^556 

Bushels of Barley, 3,040 

Com, 15450 , 

Cords of Wood, ;25,851 

Busiiels ot Potatoes, 21,880 

Tons of Hay, 3^405 i 

Bushels of Oats, :J4,415 

Dairy Produce $3943 

Orchard •• ^l^gOi ,; 

Domestic Goods, .§2,0.25 

Compare the above statistics, with those of j 
any other township, (the population being equal,) j 
either in Uncle Sam's land, or Aunt Victoria's, ! 
and I will bet a big apple lliat you will not find 
any better wheat producers than we Caledoni- ' 
ansare,inall the broad dominions of the above ' 
named potentates. And 1 will furthermore ' 
bet two big apples, thai if you bring the little 
County of Livingston, and compare it in the same 
way, that our county will come off victorious 
o 



I as to the amount of produce compared with thft 

j coneumerB. Figures will not lie if you use them 
right. 

I Considerable of the cannie Scot leaka out i& 
this glorification of his own little town, but his 
brother Pioneera were all in too good humor to 
take up the glove which friend Laurie threw 

' down. 

The second document is, as described by Mr 
McK. : 

Copy of the New- York State Tax Roll for 
the town of North- Hampton. County of Ontario, 
(familiariy known by the name of the Town of 
the Two Rivera, from the fact that it was bounded 
on the east by the Genesee River, and on the west 
by the Niagara River, north by Lake Ontario, and 
south by Pennsylvania. ) 

By a Legislative act in the year 1797, no State 
tax was to be collected in any part of the Genesee 
country until the year 1800 : and this, the first 
State tax roll is dated Oct. G, 1800. 

The warrant is directed to Peter Shefler, as Col- 
lector, who resided in Wheatland since 1789 until 
now, and signed fey Augustus Porter and Amos 
Hall, Commissioners of Taxes for the county of 
Ontario. 

Cyras Douglass, Michael Beach, Eli Griffith 
and Philip Beach, were made the Assessors. 

Donald McKenzie, of Caledonia; has copied said 
warrant and given his guessing recollections, re- 
marks &.C., on some of the individuals, (except 
sixteen names which were torn from the first page, 
j together with the total valuation of Real and 
I Personal estate,) and the lax of each person as- 
I sessed. 

I The Roll contains the names of the persons as- 
j sessed, value of real estate — ditto personal, and 
j amount of Tax. Mr. McK. has added— emigra- 
1 ted from— emigi-ated to— politics in 1800 — and 
i other remarks. We notice that, 

Peter ShafJer has assessed to him 4,000 acres of 
■ land at one dollar per acre — personal property 
#260— total $4,260— Tax $5,36. That sam. 
4,000 acres is probably now worth between ^200 - 
000 and $300,000. The land was all valued at 
.$1 per acre. 

This is a very valuable relic of olden time, and 
ie placed on the files of the society for future ref- 
erence. 

Third, Mr. McK. gives 'a list of Supervisors 
and Town Clerks of the tosvn of Genesee, (i. e., 
all west of Kanadarkqua,) (first town meeting 
held at Canawagus, April 5, 1791) as collected 
by D. McK." 

This list gives the year of the eleciiou— name 
of SupervLsor — name of Town Clerk — political 
principles — and price of Wheat. 

The remaining document presented by Mr. 
McK., is a collection of facts and incidents con- 
nected with the early Indian history of this coun- 
tiy, together with a valuable essay upon our treat- 
ment of the Abongine.«. We think our papers 
Avould find this a mo.=t interesting article for their 
columns. 



Mr. BicNj. B. Blossom, said that he cam* here 
to-day to mingle his congratulations with the pio- 
neers of this city and the towns around us; and 



IS 



WM happf to ase m the Chair an old friend, whose 
presence reminded him of days gone by, when 40 
years ago he was a corporal under his command, 
»n old Berkshire, Mass. His native place wa^ 
Cape Cod, within 40 miles of old Plymouth Rock 
In the year 1778, his father, with a large family. 
took a vessel on the south side of the cape and 
sailed for Hudson, now a city on the North Riv t 
in this Stat-. He there hired wagons to cat;ry 
his little effects to the town of Lenox, Berkshire 
Co., Mass. In the y ar 1811. said Mr. B-, Knos 
Stone, and he that was Col. Stone, of this place, 
came to the blacksmith shop of my boss with 
whom I then was serving an apprenticeship to the 
trade of Vulcan, and with him made for them the 
second set o( saw-mill irons that were put m use 
for this city of Rochester. Enos Stone then 
offered to give me any spot I should choose on thi.' 
side of the river, if I would come when my term 
of service expired. 

In the year 1817, my lather and I came here 
and upon this ground where we now are, occupied 
by the children of a deceased father, B. Blossom, 
Sir, I here stand to-day, by the good providence 
of God, as the representative of the Blossom fam- 
ily, now the elder. In I^^IS, my father with his 
numerous family started for Brighton with hiscar- 
riage, and in it ten persons, and I with two teams, 
a 6 cattle and 4 cattle team, drove by two hired 
men for the fer west as then called. I walked all 
t e way on foot save 5 miles before I arrived ai 
Palmyra. I was 16 days on the road, and travel- 
ed the last day from old Ti oup's tavern, 5 miles 
east of Palmyra. My Sither wished to know of 
me how the teams iravelel the last day. I told 
htm better than any one day. Well, said he, I 
supposed they would ; for, said he, Mr. Ai.lkn 
was praying for you all tlie dny. This was tht 
Rev. Solomon Allen, who was the first m.inister 
of Brighton and who first organized a church tn 
this town. 

My father purchased what was then called the 
Spafford property, in Brighton, and on it dug up 
the stumps and built the house which goes by the 
name of the old Blossom House. 

I am now living upon the same place where we 
first settled, with the same old shop, in it the same 
tools that I bousht when I was 21 years of age. 
the same old bellows. with as good lungs as when 
new and blows as good a blast as she did 37 years 
ago in old Massachusetts. I am now able to per- 
form as good day's work over the old anvil, save a 
little eye flight, as when I was a boy of 21 years 
of age. I am now, sir, 58. 

Brighton, Oct. 11, 1848. 
Enos Stoke, Esq. , Chairman of the honorable 
body of Pioneers of the City of Rochester and its 
vicinity — Sir: As my health at present is such 
that 1 am unable to attend your annual meeting, 
which I regret very much, I take this method to 
inform you and your honorable body, that I came 
in company with my father from the town of 
Phelps, near the east part of Ontario county, to 
the town of Brighton, near the west part of said 
county., in the fall of 1815. We chopped about 
an acre and built a log house on the farm now 
owned by Mr. Schank. We then returned to 
Phelpa to winter, and on the 3d day of May, 1816, 



we atrived in the said town of Brighton, and I 

have not been absent from said town one month 
at a time since 1 saw several bears and frequent- 
ly heard the wolves howl and bark on the Pinna-= 
cle, I had several battl s vvith rattle-snakes, but 
the hardest battle I ever had was with Mr. Ague- 
and-fever, which lasted about three months every 
day ; and through the assistance of a kind Provi- 
dence I conquered all. 

Yours respectlully, 

ABNi.R BUCKLAND. 

Le Roy, (Fort Hill,) Oct. 10, 1848. 

CcL. A. Newton — Sir: 1 am too old to attend 
the Pioneer Jm ilee and too illiterate to write any 
thing that will amuse or instruct. Being no* 70 
vears old, I cannot expect to make much improve- 
ment. I offer a few lines, which are at your dis= 
posal, of course. 

I came into this town in Nov., 1806, (42 years 
ago,) — started from Connecticut 2Uth October. 
At Whiteslown, (now Utica,) were three log 
houses, oneof whicii vvasa public house and kept 
by a Mr. Bagos. From Whitestown to Cana- 
darqua, 112 miles, was a new turnpike, much of 
the way through the woods and very muddy.— 
Crossed Gene-ee river in a vvretched scow at Ca- 
lawagusand plunged into the woods 5 miles north 
of Ganson's settlement, (now Le Roy ) We 
were advised not to go into that densp forest of 
heavy timber and a putrid atmosphere, for it would 
never be settled and we would have the ague : 
but finding a brother there, who came on the.lune 
before, concluded we would try it. Found our 
brotherdown with iheagueandhome-sickeiious^h; 
but hearing that the ague never killed any one, 
and that their health would be better when they 
g t overit. concluded to risque it. And now then 
ten thousand wants rushed to our astonishid vis- 
ion. We wanted the trees cut down and burnt! 
up, and fences made; we wanted log houses to 
shield us from the storms of winter and summer ; 
we wanted boards, nails, and glass; we wanted 
roads cut through the woods instead of marked 
trees; we wanted log bridges made to keep our 
horses and wagons from sinking ; we wanted 
school-houses and meeting-houses built; we 
wanted to send our children to school, and when 
Sunday come we vvatited to go to meeting, (some 
of us I mean,) but we had no meeting-house and 
no minister. After a while a minister arrived, 
and then we w^anted funds, for we were but a fee- 
ble band ; and finally, by uniting with a lew pio- 
neers in West Pultney, (now Riga,) wesjcceeded 
in securing the services of a minister; and then 
we wanted him ordained in the good old way. 
To do this we had to send an express to Canadar- 
qua to purchase some brandy and loaf sugar for 
the moiTientous occasion ; and then we wanted a 
place to meet to attune our iijusical powers, and 
hearing of a new frame ham in West Pulmey, just 
put up by Mr. Amasa Frost, (this barn is still 
standing,) the singers agreed there to meet for im- 
provement, and there, on the loft on both sides of 
th? barn floor, we had seats erected for the choir, 
where we poured forth melodious strains in antici- 
pation of (he approaching ordination day. And 
here I want to notice a lady whom they called 
Mrs. DfirsMORK ; what became of her I know not. 



19 



She appeared to possess powerful musical talents 
as well as poetic. 

1 trust 1 shall be pardoned thic digression, as I 
began by enameraling o r wants on our tirsi arri- 
val, but they were without number, and our im- 
mediate wants 1 had overlooked or loigotien. — 
Whole.-ome bread and water were among the most 
important items. Wells of water we had none, 
and if there were any springs of water we knew it 
not, nor where to Icok for them; consequently we 
had to take our pail, dipper, and strainer to a pud- 
dle of water red with soaked iorest leaves, strain 
out the wiglers and til! the tea-kettle ; in fact, we 
could hardly disting isli it, by the appearance, 
from good old hyson ; but we got our pay m fever 
an J ague. 1 had drunk brackish water before an ! 
did not think this would hurt me, and the mystery 
is that any of us are now alive. For meat, wild 
game was plenty, such as bears and wolves, owls 
and rattle-snakes ; likewise deer were plenty, but 
we had no rifles, time, or patience to spare — 
squirrels and pigeons were mostly used. 

I obtained two bushels cf smutty wheat from a 
Scotchman. As 1 • ad no wheie to wash or dry 
it, and hearing of a grist-mill down at the springs, 
owned by Mr. John McKay, ^now Caledonia,) 1 
took my wheat on my h'rse, rode down Allen's 
Creek 7 or 8 miles, wlien I catiie to a dark dense 
forest (now Muniford) of evergreens. 1 thought 
it was a cedar swamp growiog on a hill. Near 
the center of this swamp, as 1 took it to be, 1 
found a small hut, which 1 entered, for I was very 
cold, it being Lite in Novembi^r, 1806. Here 1 
found a good fire, and the owner with several 
workmen, was at dinner. 1 found the owner lib- 
eral, interesting, and intelligent. He told me his 
name was Donald McKknzie — that he was build- 
ing a fulling-mill and making preparation for wool 
carding and cloth dressing. 1 told him who I was 
and from whence 1 came, and alter the family had 
diiied h'- a.'ked me to sit by the table and partake 
o! a farmer's cut, and if ev.r 1 aie with gusto i( 
was ihf-n. That act of kindness from Mr. Mc- 
Ken/ik will never be elFaced Irom my iiieniory. i 
got my wheat ground and got home in the night. 
On examini .g my tlonr next day, behold, it was 
as black as my boots and about as eatable; bu; 
never mind, ti won't kill us, for hope keeps the 
heart whole. 

In liire- or four weeks afier my family arrived, 
my wife was taken down with the ague, and on 
one occasion, wliile groaning, wri h ng, stretch 
ing and yawning under the malady, the puppy set 
up a tremendous barking under the bed ; an i what 
could the ma ter be, when io ! and behold, a fa- 
mous gieai rattle-snake war under the bed, which 
was soo.i dispatched, but not until he had shown 
us his musical talents. But i did not blame the j 
snake, for our floor was made of split logs, and ' 
many of us had nothing luti the ground. A young , 
man in my employ caught a rattie-snake while ■ 
reaping wheat where Stone Church now stands, i 
about the first of August, put it in a box in the 
granary, where t lived till the 7th of January | 
following, wiihout eating or drinking, fie was | 
V'-ry fleshy when caught, much of which he lost-' 
by long confinement, but lost none of his spite or 
ve lom. He was four feet six inches long, and 
1 have never seen one more than four feet six or 
seven inches in length, though I have measured 



perhaps hundreds. I have preserved a gre»t many 
of- their galls for their medicinal qualities by virei» 
ting and rolling them in common pulverised chalk, 
and by request sent them to our family phyi-ician 
in Connecticut. By the multitude ol bones found 
in the crevices of the rocks near Fort Hill, it is 
evident that when they become old ihey crawl 
away, den up and die ; but what their age is, who 
can tell ? for an old one has commonly lost half or 
two- thirds of his rattles, which is p'ain to be seen 
by those r..^maining, and I much doubt whethtr 
their ages ever can be determined by the number 
of their rattles. But 1 did not think of writing a 
snakp siory. 

The first general training I attended was held in 
the month of October, 18u7, at the log hous-^ oi a 
Squire Labourn, somewhere north of Scottsville, 
1 should think, in the town of Wheatland. Our 
regiment was commanded by Col. John Atchi.n- 
soN of Braddock's Bay, on Lake Ontario. To de- 
scribe the fantastic appearance and ludicrous move- 
ments of this mass of human beings, is beyond my 
power of description. Suffice it to say we got 
home alive. 

The first town meeting I attended was at (now 
called) Caledonia. The second town mei ting I 
attended was on beech ridge, (now Sweden,) two 
miles south of Brockport, at the house of Mr. 

DUNSHA. 

in 18U8, hard times for money — began to raise 
some smutty wheat — did not get our money from 
tlie easi — embargo limes — a President to be elect- 
ed. O ! how It tried m.^-n's souls. A gentleman 
at lie taft wrote to bu riend here, to know the 
politics! situation of this new country. The fol- 
lowinij; IS the reply: — "Our political situa ion 
reminds me of I :e declaration of a sai:or whom a 
larmfr hired to plow in a field with a yoke of oxen 
and an old mare called Jenny. While the sailor 
was absent for a drink of water, his team got in 
much disorder and confusion — some had kicked in 
and some had kicked out of the traces — each 
wanted to go their own way and make all the oth- 
ers lollow Jack rinding ii impossible lo get them 
straightened out and make them go the way he 
wanted, called lustily for his master, who came 
puHing. What's the matter? — what's the mai- 
ler. Jack. Gosh, mas.a ! matter enough, I 
guess. Why the larboard ox has got on the star- 
Hoard side — old Jin is run lonl in the riggin' — 
the plow s .in her beam's end — and they are all 
going to the devil stern foremost." 

The followi g nam^swere among the principal 
settlers (pioneers) in West Pultney, but probahly 
not in the order in which they arrived. They 
were mostly from Massachuset s, and emigrated 
in the years 1805, '6, '7, '8, and so on : — Capt. 
Sain'l Church, Ksq. Elihu Church, Jesse Church, 
Mr. Samuel Baldwin, Esq. Brewster, Ainasa 
Frost, D-a. Frost, Capt. Hill, Mr. Morse, Mr. 
turner, Joseph Thomstn, Mr. Holbrook, Mr. 
Shepard, T. Gay, Mr. Apthorp. Mr. Bingham, 
and many others whose names I do not now recol- 
lect, most of whom are fallen asleep. Those near 
Bergen Corners who emigrated about ihe'same 
time, mostly from Connecticut, were the follow- 
ing :_ Dea. Levi Ward, Dea. Benjamin Wrijiht, 
Dea. Timothy Hill, Dea. John Ward, Dea. Pit- 
man Wilcox, Dea. Josiah Piereon, Mr. Aehbel 
CrampioB, Bela Muoger, Doct. Levi Ward, jr., 



20 



Joarib Field, Samuel Butlefj Alexander White, J 
John Gifford, Jacob Spafford, Wheaton South^ 
worth, Stephen Evarts, David G. Evarts, and j 
some others, most of whom are gone. ^ 

These words and lines are from the pen j 

Of a poor old man, three score and ten : 
If they will pay for reading them, 
He'd only say, Amen— amen. 
Please send roe a book, should you make one, 
and oblige SIMON PIERSON. 

Mr8. D. K. Carter, a pioneer, sent the follow- 
ing, which was read : — 

David K. Carter came to Rochester, March 
10, 1814, and settled- in a house where Avery & 
Burke keep store. In 1817, D. K. Carter, in 
conjunction with Abner Hollister, built the old 
Mansion in Rochester — the first three story build- 
ing ever built in this place. The first Masonic 
Lodge, 1 think, was instituted in that building 
shortly after its completion. Daniel Mack kept 
it for a public house. In December, 1817, the 
first courts were held in the Mansion House after 
Monroe County was erected. D. K. Carter, in 
December, 1817, removed on to lot No. 1.3, on the 
east side of the river. He died August 27, 1828. 

Prattsburgh, Sept. 23, 1848. 

Dear Sir .• I am a minister of the gospel, in 
connection with the Presbyterian church. I came 
into Western New York in the fall of the year 1801, 
and settled in West Bloomfield, where 1 remained 
between seven and eight years. I then removed 
to Prattsburgh, m the county of Steuben, where 
I now reside. My residence m Western N. York 
has been longer than that of any other Presbyte- 
rian minister. The history of Western N. York 
is one most interesting in many respects. It is 
the commencement of a new era in the history of 
new settlements — the history of one of the most 
interesting parts of the habitable parts of the 
world. Its civil history ought to be written by 
some one who v ould give himself to the work, 
and spare no labor in the collection of materials 
and compilation of the work. An interesting and 
useful volume of the biography of the departed 
pioneers of Western N. York might be compiled, 
which might honor their memories and keep alive 
the recollection of their achievments. Could not 
something be done at the meeting o forward these 
objects? Yours, with the highest respect, 

JAMES H. JIOTCHKISS. 

Hon. E. Stone. 

Rochester, Oct., 1848. 

Gentlemen: The following sketch, relative to 
eotton manufacturing, perhaps may be interesting 
to many. 

In the year 1815, a company was incorporated 
by the name of '• The Gentsee Cotton Manufac- 
turing Company," for the purpose of manufactur- 
ing cotton at Rochestei. A few of the stockhold- 
ers are now living in (his vicinity, among whom 
are Enos Stone, Oliver Culver, S. O. Smith, 
M. Brown, F. Bullard, and W. Kempshall. 

In the fall of this year they contracted with 
Rdssel Smith of Hopkinton, Mass.. to furnish 
the following machinery, viz : 12 throstle-frames 
of 84 spindlcB each and 2 mules of 192 spindles 



each, making in all 1392 spindles, together with 
all the necessary apparatus to operate the same. 

This machinery was put in a building erected 
for that purpose on Brown's race at the foot of 
Factory street, (siqce burnt,) and at 'he time I 
believe the only cotton machinery west of Whites- 
town, and on the building was hung the first bell 
west of Genesee river. 

I came here in October of this year, and in the 
following spring th,e factory was ready for opera- 
tion. 

1 had anticipated much difficulty in starting, as 
w^ were at least 140 miles from any place where 
experienced hands could be obtained. But before 
we were ready, three or four large families of ope- 
ratives came here from the Black River country, 
which furnished us with all we wished. 

There were many obstacles yet to encounter, 
and little progress v/as made. The prices we had 
to pay for such things as we must have and the 
difficulty with which many of them were ob'tained, 
may be seen in the following : — 

We paid 30 cts. per lb. for cotton in New York 
and $3,75 per hundred for transportation. I paid 
Mr. Silas Smith $5 a gallon for common lamp 
oil, 25 cts. per lb. for chalk ; and when I had used 
all the oil Mr. Smith had, I had to go to Canan- 
daigua for a supply ; there I could buy at whole- 
sale for $3,75 per gallon. I paid as high as $35 
per bbl. for poor prime pork, and dealt it out at 20 
cts. per lb. 

Money was scarce. The company was embar- 
rassed and disheartened, having paid all their 
available means out for their buildings and ma- 
chinery, they had neither money nor credit to op- 
erate their machinery with ; and what made it 
still worse, the curtency of the country was no 
better than the rest. The following is a specimen 
of the circulating currency : — 



THE BANK OF UTICA 

Promises to pay the Bearer on demand 
THREE 3 CENTS. 

By order of the Board of Directors. 
Jan. 1, 1816. 

3c ts. T. Colling. 



Under such embarrassments as these we contin- 
ued to operate until January, 1818, when the in- 
ternal and external diflSculiies of the company 
prevented further operations, and writs, execu- 
tions, and injunctions were substituted for cotton 
spinning. The whole effects of the company in 
the hands of the sheriff. Calls were now made 
on the stockholders topay the balance due on their 
stock or forfeit what they had pa d. Almost all 
preferred to forfeit what they had paid ani "be 
off" — a few paid up their stock in full, with the 
understanding that when sold by the sheriff they 
would have it bid in, and in so doing they could 
save their properly and make their stock of full 
value. A person was so authorized, and the whole 
property was struck off to him at a mere nominal 
sum. 

This, as might be supposed, created more law, 
and the whole matter was before the Chancellor. 
In this state, things remained until the fall of 1321, 



21 



when Amos Allcott leased the whole premises. 
He run until his death, and afterwards his sons, 
S. S. Allcott «fcCo., continued to run it until 
they built the front part of the building where 
Cadt & Co. now own. 

Doct. Brown sold the factory lot to S. O. 
Smith in 1827 ; the same year he sold the ma- 
chinery to the Messrs. Allcott. Themachineiy 
was removed to Messrs. A 's new building, where 
they added some looms and other machinery, and 
run it some time. 

In 1831, Mr. E. F. Smith purchased it from 
the Messrs, A., and added to the building and 
machinery to the amount of 2000 spmdles, and 
looms in proportion. In 1835, Mr. Smith made 
a stock company with it, retaining about one-half 
to himself, which he subsequently sold to Messrs. 
Strong. In this way it was run about two years 
by a Mr. Lamb, when it was again seized with 
Its old complaint and stopped. 

In 1846, Messrs. Cady & Co. purchased the 
factory, then containing but about 1000 spindles, 
with the looms and other machinery that had been 
in use formerly. They now have running about 
4000 spindles, turning out about 600,000 yards of 
heavy sheetings annually and employing about 80 
hands, two-thirds of which are females. Most of 
the old machinery has been taken out and new 
substituted. 

About the year 1830, Mr. Wm. Rathbdn & I. 
N. Crosby erected a cotton factory in a building 
in rear of the mill recently occupied by 1. F. Mack 
as a flouring mill. Satinett warps w=is their 
principal article of manufacture. After the failure 
of Mr. Rathbun, ttie machinery was sold and re- 
moved to Bloomfield. 

In 1846, Mr. Seth C. Jones commenced man- 
ufacturing in his large new building which he had 
previously erected for that purpose near the falls. 
Messrs. Jones & Chamberlain have now in op- 
eration 5000 spindles, 113 looms, and turn out 
more than 1,000,000 yards of cloth annually. — 
They employ about 140 hands, two-thirds of 
which are temales. 

The above is respectfully submitted, hoping it 
may be of interest enough to be placed among the 
minutes of the Pioneer Association. 

With respect, yours, &c. , * 

FISHER BULLARD. 

On the 13th of June, 1813, I first saw Roch- 
eiter, J stood awhile on the bridge and soon mude 
ttp my mind that this was my fotnre home. The 
October following I relnrned from Massachuifittc 
wit men to build a saw mill on the West side of 
the river, very near a small li^g cabin erecied bj 
the persons who built the bridge. There were 
80 few families tl at board con d not be had. Ai 
the suggestion of Eaos Stone, Esq , and Isaac W. 
Stone, i cleared oit the cabin which was then 
occapied as a stable by S. O. Smith, E-q , who 
kindly gave it up for my use. J. W. Sione pro 
cared me a housekeeper, and the mill was com 
pleted in December. We thought the easiest way 
to get rid of the cabin would be to ourn it; we 
accordingly set it on firo, and it required our ut- 
most exertions lo prevent its burning the mill. — 
With the assistance of our neighbors it was final 
ly sftved, although several times on fire. At this . 



time ihero were, I believe, but two dwelling 
housea on the west and two oa the east side of 
the river. 

I think it was in Apri., 1814, an eighteen 
pound cannon and a four pounder, the latter of 
()rass, were sent by Genowal P B. Poiter to the 
care of Capt. (afterwards Colonel) Isaac W. 
Stone. It required seventeen yoke of oxen to 
draw the eighteen pounder through from Culver's 
to this place, such was the state of the roads. — 
With the cannon came powder and ball. We 
soon collected some powder in the village, and had 
a few Tonrids very much to the amusement of all 
of as. it was suggested that we should see what 
eflea: a ball would have. The cannoB was plac- 
ed OH Main street at the corners near Blossom's 
Hotel. On the rise of ground very near the res- 
idence of the lamented Gen. Mathews, a large 
limb about 40 feet from the ground, was cut from 
a free, which left a white spot for our target. I 
went rather clandestinely to Capt. Stone's barn, 
got a ball and intended getting it into the cannon 
without his noticing it. He observed it, however 
and said I ought not to waste the public property 
in that way. I replied, "nevpr mind, Captain, 
we will find it again." " Find the devil," said 
he. Eaos Stone and Frederick Handford acted 
as chief engineers, and myself as assistant. Ail 
things being ready, the cannon was fired. The 
ball struck the tree about 4 feet belt w the maik. 
The top quivered a mohient and fell. This 
waa our experience in gunnery. The boys 
soon brought us the ball, so that the United 
Stales lost nothing by the operation. 

It was soon known that the British fleet was 
on our coast, and that it was at Oswego. Capt., 
now Col. Stone of Porter's Volunteers, waa 
commissioned to raise a regiment of Dragoons. — 
He had recruited about 50 men with whom he 
went to the mouth of the river. He directed the 
eighteen pounder to be sent there and the four 
pounder to Deep Hollow Bridge. On tha Sab- 
bath we threw up a breastwork on the south side 
of the bridge, loosened all the plank which were 
pinned down, and finished our work in the eve- 
ning. About sundown on the 14thof May, 1814, 
I received a message from Col. Stone, saying 
the Briti h fleet weie in sight, ard requesting me 
to notify the inhabitants; but that we need not 
come until the next mornmg. About 11 o'clock 
P. M., another messenger came requesting us to 
conie immediately. H E y & Co had previous 
Ij received 50 mrskets and 3000 fixed ammnni' 
tion; these were distributed amongthe inhabitants 
^3 far us was necessary. Eiich man took 24 
rounds of cartridge. At that time there v^ere but 
S3 men in the place; one was left to cart off the 
wo nen and children if necessary, and another 
declined to go. The cart was the only convey- 
ance in the place. Abont 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing we started. It rained fast and was very dark ; 
the roads were exceedingly mnddy. We arrived 
at the month of the river soon after daylight m 
the midst of a ftg. The lake was perfectly calm, 
and we could diitincily hear :he British boats 
rowing about in various directions. An old boat 
was lying near which had been used as a lighter^ 
Col. Stone proposed to Capt. Fiancis Brown and 



22 



uiyeelf to taks some rasn, aud ees if v-'s coald not 
capture some of the Briliah boats. Six seamen 
were soon fiuod to man the oars, and twelve 
Tolantee-B with maskets were slowed out of 
sight in the bottom of the boat. Capt. Brown 
stood npoa one thwnrt and myself upon another, 
and then with mnffled oars we put to sea. At 
the point a ccntry had been placed who hailed us. 
We did not answer and he fired. The ball pass- 
ed between Capt Brown and myself and struck 
the water beyond as We rowed on slowly and 
noiselessly into the lake. When we^were out n 
mile or more, a gun was fired fro'ii i-hore, and 
soon another and another. We lay too conj c 
luring what it conld mean. The f<g wag ilisap- 
pearioi very rapidly; we soon could see Colonel 
Stone on his white horse, and 'jevond ns the top 
masts of the fleet which Uy at anchor in a line 
np and down the lake. Direci'y (he foj had en- 
tirely disappeared, and we lay within the rangn 
of the gnos of the whole fl ki, 17 !-ail in all — 
We turned and rowed slowly towards the shore 
So'D a twelve oared barge was in pursuit of us 
and gained tn us very r.ipidiy We feared the> 
minht have a ^wivel on hl■;:'^^ and they were so 
near us that we coa^d dbt'ncTiy count their oars 
Aftor a moment's consniialion, we conc'ndtd to 
head our boat for Irondeqooit. The cbj^ici wa? 
to give our 18 punoder on shore, an opporinnitj 
to fire upon the pursuing boat. Brown observeo 
to me, " well Ely, I tieliave we; shall have to ^'■ 
to Halifix " I replied, "it looks very mac) 
like it." Jehiel Barnard, new of this place 
raised his head, and with compresS' d iijssiid. 
«• I hope yon will let us fiijht first " We ha< 
not gone far (oivards [ronot-quoi bnTora ihe Brii 
ish boat stopped Brown obsRrved, " il ty ihmt 
there is some trap." We sto{>p'd rowing — iht-j 
aoon commenced ;igain, and we too. They pn I 
ed a fi-w strokes and then tUTied towards iht- 
Bhipping, and wi to ihn month of the river. i'h- 
gtins from the fleet could have sank us at anj 
time. 

About 10 o'clock .a flag of truce put off from the 
flag ship of the enemy.. Col. SruNE asked me 
whether 1 was used o receiving a flag of truce. 
The answer was, "No." Capi. Brown was 
asked ; the reply the same. Col. Stone then 
told Brown and myself to do the best we could — 
adding, " don't let thenicome into the river— don't 
let them land at all — their feet shall not pollute 
our soil." Up the lake, a little above the mou;h 
of the river, a very large tree had fallen into the 
lake where there was sufficient water for the boat 
to lie along side. We went out on the tree and 
tied a white handkerchief to a stick The boat 
came alotfg side ; the officer, who was in full 
dress and a splendid looking man, proposed going 
on shore. We told him our orders were positive, 
by this time 12 armed men made their appearance 
on the shore of the lake. The officer bearing the 
flag said, " Is it your custom to receive a flag ot 
truce under arms?" We told a m he must ex- 
cuse us, as we were not soldiers but citizens ; we 
however requested the men to return. He then 
said he was commanded by his Exce'Iency Sir 
James Yeo, to say that, "if we would give up 
rhs public property, private property should be re- 
spected." He then produced a paper signed by 



quite a number of citizens of Oswego, the contents 
of which, ae near as I can recollect, were that, as 
the government had left a large quantity of st- res 
and munitions of war at that place, without ade- 
quate force to protect it, they would not risk their 
lives and property to defend it. It was arranged 
that Brown should stay with the flag officer and 
I return to our commander, Col Sto.ve. I deliv- 
ered the message and read the paper above alluded 
to, which the officer had handed me with a pledge 
to return it when n-ad. Col. Stone rose and 
said, "Go back and tell them t at the public 
property is in the hands of those who will defend 
it." 

Soon after the flag had returned to the ship a 
gun-boat was seen coming from the fleet, towed 
by four boats. After a short consultation, Judge 
John Williams was requested to selecf 12 good 
riflemen, and take a position under a ridge of grav- 
el thrown up by the waves at the point on the east 
side of the river. A small boat was sent up to the 
turn of the river, out oi tight of the enemy, to 
ferry the men across. Soon we saw them cross- 
ing the marsh through the tall grass, ana placed 
in the desired position — all laving on the ground, 
from which they were to rise on a given signal 
from CoL Stone. Brown and myself were to 
occupy our position in ihe boat. Our twelve men 
were again selected, with six sailors to row the 
boat. The object was to let the gun-boat get 
wiihin reach of the riflemen, and then that we 
should go and capture her. The Lieutenant hav- 
iiu charge of the cannon had positive orders from 
Col. Stone not to Hre till he was directed. By 
this time the gun-boat was in 30 or 40 rods of 
where we warned her. The boats towing her 
opened to the right and left, and she fired a six 
pound -hot, which fell inio the river several rods 
below the stjre-houses. The moment they fired 
our cannon was discharged, and witn it went all 
our hopes. Col. Ston was standing wi'hin tea 
leet of tiie cann n. He turned, drew his swo d, 
and I belie»e would have done sc-rious injury had 
not his arm been arrested. The first gun Iroiri the 
gun-boat was evidently a trial shot. She would 
u.ii]oiibt<'dly have come a iiule n arer ihe shore 
had we not fired, and if so we sln-uld have ass.'.reiHy 
c^ptured her. She was a ve.ssel of from 9D to lUO 
tons, .-loop rigged. 1 hardly know wtit^iher the 
incident is worth relating, but at the iiioment it 
was extremely exciting, f..r we considered ihe 
gun-boat alread. our pr.ze. She then fired 15 or 
20 sixty-eight pound shot, which aid no injury 
except One which struck one of the .-^lore-houses. 
Where they struck the ground th^y turned up a 
deep furrow, sometimes several rods in length. 
Some of the balls were used in this city a long 
iime afterwards in breaki g stone for buildings. 

Soon after this occurrence. Gen- Porter ar- 
rived. About 4 o'clock P. M. another flag was 
seen coming from the fleet. Gen. Porter sent 
Major Darby iVoo.N, his aid, to receive it. The 
demand then was that if the property was not 
surrendered he would land his army and -lOO Indi- 
ans and take it. Geo. Porter answered, thai if 
he chose to send his troops and Indians ashore, we 
would take caieof them, and that if they sent an- 
other flag he would fire upon it. Gen. Porter 
appeared to be very mdignant at the threat con- 
tained in the message from the enemy. 



33 



Perhaps I ought to mention that Col. Hopkins 

called out his regiment. Some companies came 
from the west side of the river, and many in small 
parties, so that the second day at night we had 6 
or 800 men. There was plenty of pork, flour, and 
whiskey, but nothing else and we were without 
utenf ils for cooking I well recollect Esq. Scran- 
TOM as belonging to the same mess with me. We 
used to mix flour and cold water in little cakes and 
bake them on a common shovel. We toasted our 
pork on sticks over a fire, and drank water for 
cofllee. The thought never occurred '.o any of us 
belonging to Rochester, that we could send home 
and get food. 

It will be recollected that at this t me the tem- 
perance reformation had not begun in Western 
New York, it was considered quite unhealthy to 
drink Genesee water without whiskey, and the 
salt pork without vegetables made the men exceed- 
ingly thirsty. The result may readily be con- 
ceived I saw a Captain the third morning throw 
aside his sword and military coat, and fight with 
one of his own men. It was « well contested 
battle. The Captain at length conquered his 
man, which was of course his undoubted right 
under military discipline. 

The third morning th<» fleet hoisted sail and 
stood down the lake, and we went to our homes. 
1 am deeply impressed with the cont:ast in our 
condition in the years 1813—14 and yours now, 
A po|>uious city has spaung up from the wilder- 
ness 1 see the pnlace-like dwellings of s-me of 
your citizens wh'-re the humble cabin of the arly 
settler stood. The spire of one ol your splendid 
churches rises towards heaven near the spot where 
rough boards sheltered us while we worshiped 
God. Systematic education of the young has ta- 
ken the place ol the meagre instruction m our 
first school-house. Some of the men who were 
then young together, have been spared to see Ihisi 
d-.y. The Providence which has watched over i 
our city h 8 permitted the " Pioneers" who re- 
main to rejoice in its present pro.'.perity, while ' 
they meet to commemorate the trials of itaearly ] 
days, and to do honor to the memory of those who i 
have passed away. ELISHA ELY. j 

The President annonnced that a gentleman 
who had been present at the Meeting to day had 
presented a small silver modal as an earnest of a 
suitable gold medal. wWjch ho proposed to have 
prepared in season fof the next Ann jal Festival. 
This medal, according to liio wis' es of the libe- 
ral donor, is to be worn by the eldest of the Pio- 
neers ; and at his death to ho presented to the 
then eldest, and to take thit direction as long as 
any of the I'ioneera remain. 



Aitboogh the President did not cnnoHace fbe 
name of the doner, wp think we bptray no nonfi* 
dence in stating that William Wood, Esq , of 
Canandaigra, a name connected with much thai 
'8 kind, benevolent, and I beral, was the gentle- 
man who presented the medal. 

The absence of all descriptioaa of *• strong 
drinks" detracted nothing from the erjoyment of 
a feast which was only surpassed by that partici- 
pated in during the forenoon, at which " fat 
things" abonnded. 

After the dmcer was completed, the party re- 
'nrned to the parlor, where they remained until 
•ho Bun'a declining rajs were rf^ffected in (he 
eistirnsky, when they departed, each to their 
inme. beafing with them none bnt the mo«t 
agreeable reflections. 

The Diianer« 

At half-past two o'chck dinner was annoenced, • 
by sounding the horn, as in olden times, and to 
'his day in the custom among the farmers in this 
section. About sevmiy five gentlemen sat (?own 
It tables literally groaning with excellent viands, 
prepared in the superior style of •' mine Hosts," 
'he Blossoms. iThe following Bill of Fare was 
imply discussed by the gnests . 

Oyster Sonp, 

fISK. 

Boiled Salmon, Baked S&lnaoa. 

BOILED, 

Turkey, OjfterSance, Ham, 

Chicl-ens, »« •♦ Tongun, 

Mutton , Corned Bee f & Cabbsgs 

OAMK. 

Woid Cock, Partridge, 

Q-niil, Snipe. 

Oyster Pies, Chicken Pies. 

aOAST. 

Beef, Veal, 

Pork, Chickens, 

Boned Mntton— (presented by F Bullard.) 
Turkey, Lamb. 

TKOETABLEB. 

Potatoes, Parsnips, Turnips, Onions, Corn. 

PASTRY. 

Pumpkin Pie, Custard Pudding, 

Mince Pie, Chantries Pudding, 

Apple Pie, ■ Plum Pudding, 

Raspberry Tarts, Rice Pudding. 

DESSERTS. 

Apples, Pears, Grapes, Almoids, Raisins, Char- 
lotte de Rnss, Ice Creaoa. 



vv 



LBJL^04 



